Charlton Athletic’s sole tangible target is getting the points to make sure of their League One status
Charlton Athletic’s sole objective remaining this season is to secure the points that they need to guarantee League One survival.
That should not be a problem for the Addicks, who are nine points clear of the bottom four and 14th in the table.
But it does mean for a second season in succession the South London club are set to have a drama free end to their campaign.
Charlton have already spent three years in England’s third tier and are set to make that four.
Saturday’s opponents Sheffield Wednesday, by contrast, look set to make a Championship return at the second time of asking.
Liam Palmer’s ninth-minute goal saw them collect a 1-0 win and set a new club record in the EFL of 20 matches unbeaten.
“You can’t give a top team a leg up, like we did,” said Charlton manager Dean Holden. “I haven’t seen the goal back yet but Palmer seemed to stroll in to the penalty spot with no-one near him. It’s an easy goal from their point of view and really poor from us.
“There wasn’t a lot in the first half. They had isolated chances and big chances. We had some decent control but didn’t get in behind or threaten them enough. The message at half-time was to play with more purpose, that’s all Sheffield Wednesday did to us – they turned us around, didn’t try to overplay.
“That’s all that we did in the first 15-20 minutes of the second half and we had some chances.
“If Miles’ chance goes a centimetre the other side of the post then we’re back in it at 1-1 and who knows what happens. It is fine margins. I don’t like admitting it but we have to say that (Sheffield Wednesday) is where we want to be as a club. They are on such a great run and you can see their confidence.
“The players kept going and I’ve got no complaints about work-rate.”
Holden switched to a three-man central defence with Sean Clare and Corey Blackett-Taylor as wing-backs.
“They have got two strikers up there – whether that be (Michael) Smith, (Josh) Windass or (Lee) Gregory – who are going to give you problems,” said Holden. “I felt we needed an extra centre-back in there. You have to think about set-pieces – they’ve got three giants at centre-back. They’ve got Smith up front and Palmer at wing-back, who is a big old boy.
“It certainly wasn’t a team to combat them. It was a team that I thought could get our better players on the pitch and give us that strength and solidity.
“We passed the ball forward more (in the second half). If you look at the stats, we had less passes in our half and we played in their half of the pitch. I was stood in the technical area and my eyes were focused on the Covered End, certainly for 15-20 minutes of the second half. We had waves of attacks in the second half and asked them questions. We just couldn’t quite find that moment of quality to get us back into it.”
