news-engine

A first league meeting since 2007 saw Charlton Athletic deservedly prevail against a toothless West Ham thanks to Tyreece Campbell’s decisive strike. When Karen Brady promised West Ham fans ahead of their move to the London Stadium “a world-class team in a world-class stadium,” a laboured 2-1 defeat to Charlton Athletic certainly doesn’t fit the bill. They are a monster in this division, boasting a stadium which recorded the highest attendance at an English football match today, yet ‘the bowl’ has developed a deep-rooted toxicity. Relegation provided a new dawn, but the harsh realities of life in the unforgiving Championship have quickly brought them back down to earth. A squad devoid of any kind of togetherness and style relying on individual quality to pull them through, Nuno Espirito Santo is already under mounting pressure after a slow start. Goals from Lloyd Jones, ironically a failed transfer pursuit of the Hammers this summer, and the aforementioned Campbell did the damage with a forward-thinking approach arriving for the hosts way too late in the contest. A driving force behind Charlton being in a relegation dogfight last season was their poor away form, just two victories in 18 games, but they defended stoutly in a vintage Nathan Jones performance. Story of the match It has been a week of significant comings and goings in east London and two of their new faces, Arne Engels and Joel Piroe were in from the start, while Manchester City loanee Divine Mukasamade the bench. For the Addicks, Arthur Okonkwo signed on loan from Wrexham this week and came in for his debut, replacing Will Mannion. Displaying promising signs during pre-season, Micah Mbick was in a Championship matchday squad for the first time while Matt Godden made way for Myles Leaburn. An on-edge fan base was soon plunged into silence as the visitors took the lead with just seven minutes on the clock. Soney Carey was on long-throw duty and his looping delivery into the box fell perfectly for Lloyd Jones who showed striker’s instincts to take the ball down with panache before slamming home from close range. As Espirito Santo kicked the ground in frustration, a feeling of ‘same old, same old’ seemed to reverberate. The pendulum seemed to be firmly fixed in Charlton’s favour despite their limited possession as they looked to threaten on the counter, Leaburn clipping the crossbar after navigating past Max Kilman. The subdued atmosphere struggled to ignite and little was done to spark it to life. Manor Solomon was a bright spark on the left flank, yet his dangerous cross epitomised their lack of attacking impetus with Taty Castellanos and Piroe nowhere to be seen where it mattered most. Addicks assert dominance The half-time interval did little to alter the course of proceedings with Charlton showing no signs of easing their attacking intent and they took full advantage of West Ham’s defensive mishaps Konstantinos Mavropanos was the instigator, failing to control the ball on the edge of the box and dispossessed by the ever-lively Karlan Grant who provided for Campbell as his curling strike picked out the corner. Nevertheless, Charlton’s second seemed to kick them into life. Bowen grabbed the chief tormentor role, proving a menace for the Addicks backline with countless crosses for Piroe but Okonkwo was continually on hand to thwart him. The formidable shot-stopper was unable to deny the Leeds United loanee on 74 minutes though. Bowen’s darting run down the right coincided with him delivering for Castellanos whose shot was denied by Okonkwo, but Piroe was on hand to drill home the rebound. Wave after wave of West Ham attack followed and Piroe thought he was on course for a dream debut when he notched the second, only for the effort to be ruled out for offside. Mukasa was introduced for his debut, yet it was the only attacking-minded change they could make and a damming indictment of their lack of squad depth. However, they were offered a lifeline in the dying embers to save their sinking fortunes as luck swung in their way when Lewis Orford’s strike from the edge of the box was judged to have struck the hand of Conor Coventry and a spot kick was awarded. It was ironic how Castellanos, who had cut such a relaxed figure in the opening two matches, nonchalantly stepped up and failed to convert, striking the wrong side of the post to encapsulate West Ham’s truly dismal afternoon.