Charlton Athletic have not won in their last four League One matches after being defeated on their travels to Exeter City over the weekend.
The impressive 1-0 win over Birmingham City in October now seems in the distant past after draws against Stockport, Barnsley and Wrexham preceded last weekend’s loss, although cup wins over Chelsea under-21s and Southend United had buoyed Nathan Jones’ men.
The Addicks feature alongside Leyton Orient and Birmingham City in your League One round-up.
Charlton Athletic injury blow
Charlton Athletic have been handed an injury blow in the absence of goalkeeper Will Mannion against Exeter City at the weekend. The summer signing, who arrived at The Valley following the expiration of his contract at Cambridge United, has been a mainstay between the sticks so far this term.
The 26-year-old had played every minute of the League One campaign before missing out on Saturday with Ashley Maynard-Brewer filling in. The Addicks boss Nathan Jones has confirmed that Mannion is nursing a thigh strain which has been ‘frustrating’ for the London outfit.
He told the South London Press: “Making a save the other day he felt something in his thigh which caused him to miss the game. That’s frustrating. Out of nothing.
“Wasn’t a kick; he hadn’t drilled a ball; he was just making a save and then felt it. It seems to be the thing at the minute. We don’t know [how long he will be out]; we’ll have to see how things go.
“We haven’t mentioned injuries too much—we’ve got 10 injuries. 10 people unavailable [at Exeter], including Karoy [Anderson], who is not injured but with a family matter couldn’t play. We’ve got people like Tayo Edun we had to bring who got injured yesterday but was on the bench. We’ve got a lot but that is costing us a bit at the moment.”
Richie Wellens praises Leyton Orient efforts
Leyton Orient head coach Richie Wellens has praised his side following a 3-0 win over Blackpool in front of a home crowd on Saturday afternoon. That result lifted the O’s to 20th in League One and was a fourth victory of the season.
Wellens’ side dispatched Steve Bruce’s men without issue thanks to goals from Sonny Perkins, Charlie Kelman and Thomas James. Leyton Orient took the lead after just 34 minutes.
Wellens told the Newham Recorder: “I think we’ve been good at home in general, and sometimes the results haven’t represented our performances.
“Sonny Perkins has had to wait his chance, and he needed to build his confidence up, which we’ve tried to do progressively, and his performance in general was really good. He was a threat. Now that he’s in the team, he needs to make sure he stays in the team.
“We have a small squad but our substitutes worked because they went on and did the job which I asked them to do and did what was expected of them.
“We pressed them really well and I must be honest, Blackpool were outstanding in the first 15 minutes of the second half and caused us massive problems. [Kyle] Joseph could have scored and then hit the crossbar where we got lucky, but overall, we deserved the result and got the little bit of luck we needed so credit to the players.”
Chris Davies slams ‘poorest’ Birmingham City goal conceded
Birmingham City boss Chris Davies didn’t hold back when giving his opinion on the 96th-minute equaliser conceded to Northampton Town at St Andrew’s on Saturday afternoon.
The Blues were cruising to a 1-0 win but dropped two points in dramatic fashion. The promotion-chasers’ defence failed to deal with a long Northampton Town ball and lost possession in the moments before Mitch Pinnock found the back of the net.
Davies told BirminghamLive: “It feels like a loss. To concede a goal that we did in the last seconds of the game when you have no time to respond is difficult to take.
“The goal was just a long ball, and the centre-backs are there to deal with those balls. Instead, it’s just bounced down—one pass and one shot. It’s the poorest goal we’ve conceded this season, and it’s really difficult to take.”
