Walsall 0 Charlton Athletic 1
A well-taken goal from Diallang Jaiyesimi was enough to take Charlton into the Third Round of the Carabao Cup with a 1-0 win at Walsall.
While the Addicks weren’t at their fluent best, the team played nice spells of football and battled hard to keep a clean sheet once the winger had put Charlton in the lead just before the hour mark.
As expected Ben Garner sent out a much-changed side from the team that played Cambridge United in League One at the weekend. Recent academy graduates Lucas Ness, Richard Chin, Aaron Henry and Miles Leaburn all started, with Jake Forster-Caskey also named in the starting XI, his first involvement since the First Round of the competition.
With eight changes, it took the Addicks a bit of time to bed in and play the attacking possession football that has quickly become a hallmark of Garner’s side.
Jaiyesimi had the Addicks’ first sight of goal 12 minutes into the game but, cutting in from the left and shooting well wide.
Indeed, Joe Wollacott was the busier of the two keepers in a frantic first half that lacked quality. He made regulation saves to deny Andy Williams and Isaac Hutchinson.
Henry curled past the post and Jaiyesimi couldn’t get enough on a deep Chin cross as the Addicks tried to take control of the game.
Charlton’s best chance of the half came in the final minute, when Jack Payne’s cross from the left was well struck on the volley by Albie Morgan, on the edge of the area, but his shot just cleared the crossbar.
Walsall did have the ball in the net before the break but Williams’ close-range effort was ruled out by referee Ollie Yates for handball, with the striker subsequently booked.
The Addicks were able to create more in the early stages of the second half – Forster-Caskey shot just wide and Jaiyesimi had a shot blocked behind by Donervon Daniels.
In quick succession Morgan and Forster-Caskey then saw efforts clear the crossbar and Charlton made the pressure tell with a 57th minute opener from Jaiyesimi. While the winger did excellently to hold off his defender and calmly finish, huge credit must go to Leaburn for the assist. The young striker collected well, turned and fed Jaiyesimi with a perfectly weighted pass.
It could have been 2-0 minutes later when Henry found Chin with a perfect through ball. The young full-back closed in on goal but saw his shot well saved by Walsall stopper Owen Evans.
Both sides made changes and while Walsall threatened on occasions, the Charlton defence were able to keep the opposition out. The Addicks maybe could have had a second but substitute Jes Rak-Sakyi struck straight at Evans from close range in stoppage time.
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Walsall: Evans, Daniels (C), Monthe, Knowles, Williams (Johnson 65), Earing (James-Taylor 85), Allen, Hutchinson (White 73), Maher (Kinsella 65), Abraham (F Clarke 73), Bennett
Subs (not used): Przybek, Comley, James-Taylor, P Clarke
Booked: Williams (45, handball), Monthe (53, foul on Leaburn), Knowles (56, foul on Chin), Kinsella (87, foul on Payne)
Charlton: Wollacott; Chin (Clare 80), Lavelle, O’Connell (C) (Inniss 62), Ness; Morgan (Kirk 62), Henry (Dobson 85), Forster-Caskey; Payne, Leaburn, Jaiyesimi (Rak-Sakyi 80)
Subs (not used): MacGillivray, Dobson, Williams, Fraser, Stockley
Goal: Jaiyesimi 57
Booked: Forster-Caskey (78, foul on Knowles), Kirk (90+2, timewasting)
Referee: Ollie Yates
Attendance: 2,954 (367 from Charlton)