Charlton Athletic 4-4 Ipswich Town: Seven observations

Early on it was clear that this would be a proper game of football between two sides who wanted to get the ball down and play, but who were also going to compete fiercely.

There were no goalscoring chances of note in the opening quarter as both sides cancelled each other out.

Then Ipswich, who may have been surprised to see Charlton start with a 3-4-3 formation, became to start connecting in the final third.

The Blues had a glorious chance to capitlise on their growing pressure in the 41st minute when Sam Morsy sent Tyreece John-Jules running away one-one-one.

A loud whistle - which sounded very much like the referee's - saw the Town man hesitate at the vital moment though and allow defender Eoghan O'Connell to make a last-ditch intervention. 

Moments earlier, there had been similar confusion when players had collectively stopped at the sound of a whistle that also wasn't the official's.

A lengthy break in play, in which O'Connell was stretchered off, allowed the Charlton PA man to make a no-nonsense plea.

"To the person blowing a whistle in the crowd... PLEASE STOP IT," he said, to collective cheers, before adding that the players would be asked to leave the field if it happened again.

Thankfully that did the job.

THE BEST OUTCOME?

As half-time approached, John-Jules stepped inside from the left, created space in the box with a clever feint and bent a shot towards the far corner of the net.

Town's players were adamant that the effort deflected off the arm of defender Terell Thomas before clipping the outside of the post.

George Edmundson rose highest to guide home a header from Leif Davis' subsequent corner. So the earlier penalty appeals mattered not... or did they?

"He stuck out his hand to handle the ball and that's a clear penalty and red card," insisted Blues boss Kieran McKenna afterwards.

There's no guarantee Ipswich would have scored the penalty of course (two of the last three have not been converted), but having the entire second half against 10-men would have changed the complexion of this game.

Ben Garner whipping up the Covered End after his red card. #cafc

📸 @pedwards72 pic.twitter.com/6PTjKvEpwC

— Richard Cawley (@RichCawleySLP) October 29, 2022

EMOTIONS RISE

When Town went 2-0 up in the 52nd minute, Charlton boss Ben Garner went apoplectic with rage.

He thought George Dobson had made a good challenge to halt Dominic Ball's driving run towards the heart of the box. And he thought goalscorer John-Jules was offside when Wes Burns delivered from the right.

The Addicks boss was booked for the strength of his protests and then quickly shown another for his sarcastic applause.

As he marched down the touchline towards the tunnel he whipped the home fans into a frenzy with some frantic wheeling of the arms and cupping of the ears.

The timing of Town's goals would nornally have left home players and fans demoralised. Instead, Garner's antics left everyone of a Charlton persausion breathing fire. 

We suddenly had a tinderbox atmosphere on our hands.

PEGGED BACK

Charlton introduced powerful striker Chuks Aneke and direct winger Corey Blackett-Taylor. Immedietely the two made an impact.

Aneke out-muscled Edmundson down the right to cross and Blackett-Taylor got the run on Burns at the far post to meet the ball with a side-footed volley. Christian Walton kept the shot out with his legs, but Jes Rak-Sayki was there to stab in. 

The roof was blown off. Momentum had well and truly switched.

That could and should have been nipped in the bud just a minute later when John-Jules met a Davis cross with his head at close-range. His downward effort hit the legs of keeper Joe Wollacott though. 

Charlton were encouraged. Ipswich needed cool heads and smart decision making. Unfortunately, Marcus Harness, part of  triple change at 1-2, was guilty of trying something a bit too clever in central midfield. Possession was turned over, Blackett-Taylor darted inside and his shot was poorly spilled into a dangerous area by Walton. This time Albie Morgan gobbled up the rebound.

PANDEMONIUM!

Ipswich, to their credit, regained their composure.

Kyle Edwards, who looked a livewire presence when he came on, spurned a glorious chance to score in the 86th minute when skewing a shot badly wide on the edge of the six-yard box.

When the fourth official indicated that there would be six minutes of stoppage-time a roar of encouragement went up from both home and away fans. You don't see that very often.

In the first added minute, Freddie Ladapo received a straight pass from Sam Morsy with his back to goal, span marker Sam Lavelle and rifled a fine low shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the 'D'.  

Having been benched after a two-goal display at Port Vale in midweek the front man pointed to the name on the back of his shirt in celebration. Seven goals now makes him the team's stand alone topscorer this season. They've come at a pretty decent rate of one every 144 minutes too.

Town's fans behind that goal, all 3,139 of them, were still shouting themselves hoarse about being top of the table when skipper Morsy played a one-two with Ball and sent a deflected 25-yard shot into the bottom corner.

Cue absolute bedlam. Ball jumped on Morsy's back and rode him towards the away end. Several more players in blue shirts came charging in to join the joyous scene. Supporters tumbled down the steps towards their heroes. Luke Woolfenden almost joined them when leaping on the top of the advertsiing hoardings.

Four minutes of stoppage-time had been played. Hundreds of Charlton fans headed for the exits.

What a game! What a win! What a week! 

Only it wasn't over yet...

LETTING IT SLIP

This sounds a strange thing to say, but scoring that fourth goal might actually have been a bad thing. Ipswich players got swept up in the emotion of it all and allowed their focus to slip.

A deep free-kick to the far post, Ball lost his runner, Blackett-Taylor put the ball back across goal on the stretch and Thomas, aided by a shove in the back from Woolfenden, was there to provide Charlton's third tap-in of the afternoon.

The six minutes of stoppage-time are now up. But referee Josh Smith has to add another 30 seconds for each of the goals and substitutions made after the 90 minutes (that's two minutes), plus any extra for further delays.

Should this match have gone as deep as 90+9? Possibly not. Ipswich can't get too fixated on that though. They only have themselves to blame.

The equaliser came from another deep and high cross to the far post. This time George Dobson got above Davis and looped a header over Walton.

With similar goals having been conceded against Lincoln, Morecambe and Port Vale recently, McKenna said: "If there's a common theme then it is dealing with high balls into our box. There's no point shying away from that.

"Teams are going to target us on that from here on in, as they have done all the way along because of how we play.

"We've got the winter coming up and we've got to stand up to that. We'll be looking to do the work on the training ground to help us do that."

PERSPECTIVE TIME

To let a two-goal lead slip once is poor. For it to happen twice in a game is unforgiveable.

And this was the third and fourth time this season that Ipswich have seen a two-goal lead cancelled out following the games against Sheffield Wednesday and Port Vale.

That's nine points dropped from winning positions now this season.

The manner of this draw hurts, no doubt about it. It's important to keep some perspective though.

We've seen a lot more examples of strong character than brittle backbone so far this campaign.

A home win against Derby, a victory at Port Vale and a draw at Charlton represents a decent eight days' work.

Town are the topscorers in the division. They've kept clean sheets in half of McKenna's 44 games in charge. They're second in the table.

The Blues are 13 points up on what they had at this stage of last season. And they're a staggering 29 points up when comparing like-for-like games from 21/22 (substituting freshly relegated/promoted teams for teams who finished in equivalent positions in those divisions the year before).

When the pain of this one subsides, I think we can all agree Ipswich Town Football Club is in a pretty good place right now.