A welcome week off that will hopefully allow some of our injured players to be a week closer in returning to action. Thankfully, we did have some good news with the arrival of Harry Darling from CUFC after the departures of Keogh, Walker, Cargill, Morris, and Williams in recent weeks, plus Fisher extended his contract, so it’s not all bad.
It has been a season of high-profile players seeking pastures new, and when you tot it all up those that have left this season or in the summer would have made up a fairly useful side.
We can almost guarantee Joe Mason will start after finding his shooting boots against Fleetwood Town last Tuesday where he scored a remarkable hat trick the first by a Dons player since Ryan Colclough back in 2016, also against Fleetwood but at their Highbury Stadium, I wonder how many of you were there that day, certainly a memorable occasion.
We only played Charlton two months ago down at The Valley in what was a fantastic night. Fraser ran Gilbey a merry dance in midfield that night and so frustrated did Gilbey become that he kicked out at David Kasumu as the Dons youngster dropped his shoulder and sold Gilbey a beautiful dummy that left him looking humiliated. Fraser scored for us on the break (pictured above) after we had soaked up loads of pressure and in the final seconds Charlton really should have levelled when Fisher failed to clear the ball and Darren Pratley headed against the crossbar with the goal gaping.
It is hard to imagine that Charlton will play the same game plan which allowed us to dominate large swathes of the game which saw us have 18 shots with 8 on target, and I expect them to try and close us down with a matter of urgency just as few have tried in recent weeks, whether they can maintain that for 90 minutes remains to be seen.
With little else to talk about, lets crack on with the facts and figures going into this game.
CHARLTON – THE STORY SO FAR
Charlton are currently sitting in 6th place in the table with a record of PLAYED 24, WON 10, DRAWN 7, LOST 7, GF 37 GA 32 with 37 points to their name.
FORM AT A GLANCE – DLLDWLD
AWAY LEAGUE RECORD 2020/21
Peterborough 2 Charlton 1
Bristol Rovers 0 Charlton 1
Hull 2 Charlton 0
Swindon 2 Charlton 2
Shrewsbury 1 Charlton 1
Ipswich 0 Charlton 2
Burton Albion 4 Charlton 2
Gillingham 1 Charlton 1
Portsmouth 0 Charlton 2
Northampton 0 Charlton 2
Blackpool 0 Charlton 1
Lincoln 2 Charlton 0
Crewe 0 Charlton 2
GROUND – The Valley (27,111)
YEAR FORMED – 1905
NICKNAME – Addicks, Red Robins, Valliant’s.
THE MANAGER
Lee David Bowyer aged 43 and born in Canning Town, London.
As a midfielder he started his career in 1994 with Charlton Athletic and has often been in the spotlight for his antics on and off the pitch, and are too numerous to mention, but if you are interested, a walk-through of Bowyer’s background is colourful to say the least, none more so than when he was sent off fighting Kieran Dyer who was his teammate at the time at Newcastle.
As well as Charlton he has played for, Leeds United, West Ham on two separate occasions, Newcastle, Birmingham City on two separate occasions, and finally Ipswich Town in 2012.
He played a total of 604 domestic games scoring 99 goals and represented England at Under 18’s and 21’s plus once for the full X1 in 2002.
This is his first appointment as a manager, a role he took up in March 2018 as Caretaker after Robbo left for Oxford United and was made the permanent boss at the end of the season. He initially turned down the opportunity to continue as manager the following season but later reversed that decision for a 1 year rolling contract.
His managerial record stands at GAMES 146, WON 60, DRAWN 34, LOST 52 and gives him a 41% Win Ratio, which is good at any level.
FORMER PLAYERS
Sam Bartram (623 games as goalkeeper) which would have been many more but for 6 years lost during WW2, Darren Bent, Billy Bonds, Bob Bolder, Paolo Di Canio, Derek Hales, Harry Gregory, Mark Kinsella, Paul Konchesky, Robert Lee, Stuart Leary, Kevin Lisbie, Scott Minto, Alan Pardew, Scott Parker, Keith Peacock, Chris Powell, John Robinson, Jonjo Shelvey, Bradley Wright-Phillips to name just a few.
PLAYED FOR BOTH
Ben Reeves, Jake Forster-Caskey, Chuks Aneke, Alex Gilbey, Izale McLeod, Adam Chicksen, Simon Church, Danny Green, Miguel Angel Llera, Charlie McDonald, Diego Poyet, Wade Small and Bally Smart.
FORMER MANAGERS
One of the worst conveyor belts for managers in the modern game, and a few have wondered why Robbo ever took it on with an ownership seemingly hell bent on upsetting the fan base, but he seemed to do well and got out on his own accord.
Since 2000 there have been 18 different managers at the Valley, and
previous incumbents include Karl Robinson, Russell Slade, Kevin Nugent, Bob Stokoe, Alan Mullery, Lennie Lawrence, Alan Curbishley, Steve Gritt, Iain Dowie, Alan Pardew, Phil Parkinson, Keith Peacock and Chris Powell.
FAMOUS FANS
Lee Ryan (Pop Singer with Blue), Jim Davidson (Comedy), Bjorn Borg (Tennis)
MASCOT
It used to be Floyd the Dog and Harvey the Cat, but a few years ago junior fans designed new mascots, a Knight and a Robin, who knows why.
SHOOTERS BOOTS – Chuks Aneke with 10 goals.
CURRENT MATCH ODDS – MK Dons 6/4 Draw 27/11 Charlton 23/10
LAST TIME ROUND
Wednesday 2nd December 2020 – Charlton 0 MK Dons 1
Team – Fisher, O’Hora, Keogh, Lewington, Gladwin (Poole), Kasumu, Surman (Sorenson), Fraser, Sorinola, Morris, Jerome (Walker)
Unused Subs – Nicholls, Williams, Cargill, Harvie.
Goal – Fraser 75’
Ref – Andy Davies (5 Yellows)
Attendance – 2,000
HEAD 2 HEAD
2020/21 – Charlton 0 MK Dons 1 (Fraser)
2017/18 – MK Dons 3 Charlton 0 (LG Cup) (Asonganyi, Watson, OG)
2017/18 – MK Dons 1 Charlton 2 (Agard)
2017/18 – Charlton 2 MK Dons 2 (Agard 2)
2016/17 – Charlton 0 MK Dons 2 (O’Keefe, Barnes)
2016/17 – MK Dons 0 Charlton 1
2016/17 – MK Dons 3 Charlton 1 (FA Cup) (Powell, Reeves, Bowditch)
2016/17 – Charlton 0 MK Dons 0 (FA Cup)
2015/16 – Charlton 0 MK Dons 0
2015/16 – MK Dons 1 Charlton 0 (Bowditch)
2011/12 – Charlton 2 MK Dons 1 (Bowditch)
2011/12 – MK Dons 1 Charlton 1 (Williams)
2010/11 – MK Dons 2 Charlton 0 (Powell & S Baldock)
2010/11 – MK Dons 1 Charlton 2 (JPT) (Chadwick)
2010/11 – Charlton 1 MK Dons 0
2009/10 – MK Dons 0 Charlton 1
2009/10 – Charlton 5 MK Dons 1 (Wilbraham)
