Wednesday 15 January 2014

Play again for the Huddersfield prize

Charlton have won a replay with Oxford United for the prize of an away cup tie at Huddersfield following a 2-2 draw at The Valley last night.

Both sides took the opening few minutes to acclimatise themselves with the conditions on an extremely heavy pitch. Johnnie Jackson headed an early chance just wide from Laurie Wilson's cross, before United started to dominate. The visitors adjusted quicker to the conditions, taking no risks in their own half and looking to give the front two balls to chase.

From one of those, Constable forced a corner on 13 minutes. The initial delivery was cleared back to Davies, whose cross fell kindly to Mullins. He did not strike his shot cleanly, but the ball ricocheted off Michael Morrison and past wrong-footed goalkeeper Ben Hamer.

Having scored his first goal since September, things got even better for the centre back 11 minutes later. Playing in midfield, he robbed a dawdling Jordan Cousins just inside the Charlton half and found Constable. The striker wasted no time in sliding a pass to Davies on the overlap and after taking a touch to steady himself, he buried a shot past Hamer. United almost added a third just after the half hour mark when Sean Rigg's curler narrowly missed the target.

Charlton began to assert themselves in the final ten minutes of the half. Simon Church, who scored twice in the Addicks' 4-0 Capital One Cup win against the U's in August, had an opening when he neatly collected a cross, but Jake Wright slammed the door shut with a well-timed tackle. The United skipper got a let-off a minute later when he appeared to handle in the box, before looking up to see referee Stephen Martin waving away Charlton's protests for a penalty.

The Addicks were booed off at the break and began the second half looking like a team in a hurry. Within eight minutes Charlton were back in the game, when Morrison got free at a corner to bury a header past Ryan Clarke. United immediately replaced Marsh with Smalley and the substitute was involved in a move on the hour which ended when Hamer tipped Constable's header round the post.

Charlton looked more dangerous than in the first half. As the half wore on, the home side built up a head of steam. With seven minutes remaining the pressure told, as substitute Danny Green got the better of Tom Newey and crossed for Kermorgant to volley home an equaliser.

The Addicks almost got a winner in stoppage time, but David Hunt was in the right place to block Callum Harriott's goal-bound header.

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