Saturday 5th April 2025. Game 117. EFL League 1. Charlton Athletic (0) 2 (Macaulay Gillesphey 57, Greg Docherty 66) v Lincoln City (1) 2 (James Collins 18, 49). Attendance: 15,611 inc. 604 away fans
Charlton Athletic: Mannion,Ramsay, McIntyre (Mitchell 52), Gillesphey, Small (Ahadme 90), Coventry, Berry (Dixon 52), Docherty (C) (Gilbert 90), Edwards, Anderson (Aneke 46), Godden. Unused subs - Bouzanis, Watson.
Lincoln City: Wickens, Darikwa, Jackson (C), Hamilton, Ring (Bayliss 63), McGrandles, House (Hackett 84), Hamer, Roughlan, Collins (Draper 84), Makama (Jefferies 25, Montsma 84). Unused subs - Jeacock, Gardner.
These two teams ground out an ugly as sin goalless draw at Sincil Bank, the last time that they met each other in a League 1 fixture, back in December. It was a game where the two out of sorts sides only managed to muster one shot on target between them over the whole of the 90+ minutes. With Wycombe Wanderers losing at Reading today, which followed their goalless draw at home to Michael Appleton’s Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday night; a win this afternoon would have put the Addicks level on points with the second placed Chairboys.
But Lincoln are a well established and fairly solid third-tier side these days and just like Mansfield Town on Tuesday night, they proved to be a tough nut for the Addicks to crack. Evidently Charlton’s recent results have not gone unnoticed and they're becoming something of a desirable scalp for all and sundry to try and collect. Nathan Jones' side’s ‘never say die’ tenacity saw them salvage two goals and a point from out of the wreckage of falling two-goals behind against the Imps today, to extend their unbeaten run at The Valley to 13 matches. But a ninth home win in a row would have been preferable in light of the way the league table has shaped up after today's results.
The visitors veteran striker James Collins opened the scoring after 18 minutes, with a well-placed glancing header from Erik Ring's corner at the near post, despite the close attention of Luke Berry. The Imps threatened again when Jovon Makama chased a knock over the top and was bearing down, one against one towards Mannion, but Kayne Ramsay arrived like an express train and made a timely challenging clearance. Ramsay won the ball in a fair but firm manner, but Makama went to ground over his forthright tackle and retired hurt after receiving treatment. Ring almost doubled the Imps lead in first half stoppage time but the busy Addicks keeper got down well to deny him.
Collins made it 0-2 in the 49th minute, turning away from from Tom McIntyre’s challenge, before planting the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of the net, after Ben House had chested the ball down into his path. Last season, such a deflating scenario would probably have seen Charlton wilt, while the visitors closed ranks and saw out the game, in front of a Valley crowd already resigned to their inevitable fate. But the times they are a changin’. And Lincoln's second goal merely served as a call to arms both on and off the pitch, as the Addicks upped the tempo at the atmosphere intensified accordingly.
Second-half ‘impact substitute’ Chuks Aneke forced an excellent save from Wickens. The striker’s curling shot from outside the area looked destined for the top corner but Wickens managed to get an outstretched hand to it and pushed the ball round the upright. The bugle had sounded and the cavaly were on their way. Eight minutes after the Imps second goal, Macaulay Gillesphey halved the deficit, stabbing the ball home from close-range after Aneke had chased down a wayward Josh Edwards corner kick and threaded the ball back across the six-yard box.
Edwards was inadvertently involved in the build up to Greg Docherty’s equaliser on 76 minutes, when his long throw-in was only half-cleared as far as the Addicks captain, who’s crisply struck left-footed shot flew past Wickens, to cancel out Lincoln’s lead. Wickens, who had played really well for the visitors today, pulled off a brilliant save to thwart Matty Godden, before Aneke was the width of a Rizla paper away from securing a win. A draw was probably a fair result all told and definitely a scenario that the home support would have been happy to see unfold around the 50 minute mark. FT: Addicks 2 v Imps 2
