Addicks denied further cup delight by injury-time Stockport equaliser

By Dan Evans at The Valley

Charlton Athletic (2) 2 Hinchliffe og 23, Morgan 39

Stockport County (1) 2 Hussey 3 Hippolyte 97

A late equaliser put a temporary halt to Charlton’s fine form in the cup competitions, as they were held to a 2-2 draw against Stockport County in the second round of the FA Cup on Saturday.

Having already set up a Carabao Cup fourth round tie against Brighton in the week before Christmas, the Addicks will now face a replay in the north-west to confirm their place in the third round of football’s oldest cup competition thanks to Myles Hippolyte’s injury-time header.

Ben Garner’s side fell behind early on courtesy of a Chris Hussey strike, but responded well and seemed destined to continue their excellent cup record thanks to a first-half own goal and an Albie Morgan effort.

Garner, who returned to the dugout against Stockport having served a two-match touchline ban, selected a strong starting XI to take on the League Two side in an attempt to put a halt to a run of three games without a win.

The decision appeared to have backfired just three minutes in though. After the visitors took a short corner, no-one in a Charlton shirt reacted to Hussey’s whipped delivery as it landed in the far corner of the net.

Having initially seemed stunned by their lower-league opposition, Garner’s men began to grow into the game with Crystal Palace loanee Jesurun Rak-Sakyi an increasingly influential presence on the right flank.

It was however from the opposite side that the equaliser came. Sessegnon, currently being borrowed from Fulham, left his man for dead on the edge of the penalty area before seeing across deflected home by Stockport ‘keeper Hinchliffe.

Things got even better before the interval, as Morgan dinked an effort beyond Hinchliffe after being expertly picked out by captain-for-the-day George Dobson.

It was not all plain sailing from there for Charlton though, as after Ashley Maynard-Brewer had saved well from Will Collar in first-half injury-time, he was also called into action by Ollie Crankshaw just after the restart.

With regular skipper Jayden Stockley suspended having been handed a retrospective ban for an incident in last weekend’s defeat to Port Vale, the home side found it hard to make the ball stick in the final third for much of the second period.

An injury to Sessegnon only further halted their attacking progress, and with the full-back eventually forced off, Charlton adopted a policy of sticking with what they had.

Only a determined block from Sean Clare on the hour mark denied visiting wing-back Ryan Rydel, before the same Stockport player shot wide when well positioned inside the box just minutes later.

Despite Stockport manager Dave Challinor throwing on a host of attacking enforcements in the final quarter of the game, Charlton regained their composure and seemed destined to confirm their place in the next round until the final seconds of the contest.

The home side twice came close to wrapping up the win, as first Corey Blackett-Taylor clipped the outside of the post after breaking clear down Sessegnon’s vacated left flank and then Scott Fraser hit the crossbar with an audacious effort from all of fourty-yards.

However, in the final minute of injury-time, Hippolyte got across his man at the front post to steer an effort beyond Maynard-Brewer and into the net.

Even though results have been inconsistent and performances varied in the league campaign, none of the 3,000 or so Addicks fans inside the Valley could accuse their team of failing to get pulses racing in the cup.

Charlton Athletic: (4-3-3) Maynard-Brewer – Clare, Inniss, Lavelle, Sessegnon (Chin 63) – Morgan, Dobson, Fraser – Rak-Sakyi (Jaiyesimi 85), Aneke (Blackett-Taylor 67), Kirk(Campbell 85). Subs not used: Harness, Payne, Henry, Kanu, Mitchell

Stockport County (5-3-2) Hinchliffe – Southam-Hales, Wright, Lewis (Madden 64), Hussey (Horsfall 45), Rydel(MacDonald 81) – Collar, Croasdale, Camps (Hippolyte 64) –Wootton, Crankshaw (Evans 77). Subs not used: Jones, Okwute, Johnson, Partington