Charlton Athletic 3 Huddersfield Town 0

Having taken advantage of Charlton's "Football For A Fiver" offer, I returned to The Valley yesterday for their Championship fixture at home to Huddersfield Town. Things have changed since my last visit in January. Guy Luzon was appointed to the managerial position later that month after Bob Peeters was sacked. Luzon was previously manager of Standard Liege, a team also owned by Charlton chairman and Belgian businessman Roland Duchatelet. Conflicts of interest aplenty then, for a team now on its third manager in ten months.

It was an emotional return to The Valley for Chris Powell, the Huddersfield and former Charlton manager ousted by Duchatelet a year ago. Powell, who played over 200 times for the club, received a warm welcome as you would expect. Both teams traded blows early on without carving out much in terms of clear cut chances. Midway through the first half, it seemed destined for a stalemate. 

The match was badly in need of a goal and Johann Gudmundsson obliged (as he had done against Blackburn) with a superb curling free kick. That jolted the match into life, with Huddersfield going close through Ishmael Miller before Tony Watt narrowly missed at the other end on the stroke of half time. Watt, another product of Charlton's association with Standard Liege, showed his quality in the second half. Shortly after the restart, Igor Ventekele troubled the Huddersfield defence with his pace down the left. He squared the ball to Watt who turned the ball through the defender's legs and into the corner past the stranded Smithies. 

There followed a sustained period of Huddersfield pressure with Murray Wallace forcing a fine save. The match ended as a spectacle with Watt's second and Charlton's third, after the young Scotsman launched an unstoppable shot from the edge of the area following a delicious nutmeg on the edge of the area. With just under 20 minutes left to play, it was game over. Charlton retained possession with great composure as they had done all match to run down the clock.

It was a comprehensive and deserved victory for the Addicks in the end, with Huddersfield left to rue their profligacy in the final third. The result continues a mini-revival for Charlton with three wins from their last four games and moves them to the exact midway point of the Championship table. On 42 points, they're now 11 points from relegation in a position of comfort for the rest of the season, barring some implausible calamity. I hope they're able to maintain some stability in the coming months. Despite that defeat, Huddersfield are also on 42 points and will also retain their league status.

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