Addicks edge past Royals

Charlton beat Championship outfit Reading 2-1 at the Valley Tuesday night, following goals from Paul Benson and Jason Euell in a well deserved victory for Chris Powell’s side.

As expected both teams made changes with Brian McDermott making the most of his squad, deciding to make 8 changes to the line-up that lost 2-1 to Barnsley.

The Royals line-up included Simon Church and Shaun Cummings who both return from injury while 17-year old Jordan Obita gets his first start for the club.

It was a good start to the game as captain Jobi McAnuff got down the right and crossed for Mathieu Manset, only for a Charlton defender to get it out of play. The Addicks responded well as midfielder Danny Green danced through the Royals midfield and hit his effort just wide.

Manset then had a goalbound header cleared off the line before Jason Euell had a fantastic chance to give the Addicks the lead but Alex McCarthy saved his one-on-one effort. It was the League One however that took the lead in the tie.

Paul Benson beat the Royals offside trap and nodded a downwards header past the despairing Alex McCarthy. A Reading response was unseen as Charlton almost doubled their lead as a Danny Green volley was acrobatically cleared off the line by Shaun Cummings.

The closest Reading came to equalising was through Brian Howard`s long range effort which was palmed away well by ex-Royals keeper Ben Hamer. Reading were not playing good at all with passes not coming off and Charlton near enough dominating the game.

Biran McDermott must have given them the hairdryer treatment as they came out like a whippet out a trap. McAnuff beat his man and ran down the right and crossed for Simon Church, only for the Welsh international to put his header wide.

Reading brought on new signing Joseph Mills and Hal Robson-Kanu in an effort to salvage something from the game but instead the Addicks extended their lead. Jason Euell who missed a great chance earlier made amends as his near post header doubled Charlton`s lead on 64 minutes.

The Royals again did not have much in response but new signing Joe Mills had a free kick which was saved well by Hamer. From the resulting corner, Reading got themselves back in it as a big melee in the area led to centre half Sean Morrison scrambling in to give his side hope with 17 minutes to go.

Minutes later, it was then a frantic few seconds as from a Jobi McAnuff corner, Sean Morrison had his header cleared off the line before it rebounding to Matheiu Manset, who also had his effort cleared off the line.

Chris Powell’s side then hit the bar as they saw out the game and added to the Royals’ recent woe’s of three consecutive losses.

Reading: McCarthy, Cummings, Khumalo, Morrison, Harte (Mills 62), McAnuff, Tabb, Howard, Obita (Robson-Kanu 62), Church, Manset

Subs: Andersen, Pearce, Mills, Gunnarsson, Karacan, Robson-Kanu, Hunt

Charlton: Hamer, Francis, Hughes, Mambo, Doherty (Morrison 72), Green, Bover Izquierdo (Solly 88), Pritchard, Evina, Euell, Benson (Wagstaff 50)

Subs: Sullivan, Solly, Morrison, Wagstaff, Davisson, Warren, Popo