After four disappointing performances on the road Charlton Athletic returned to SE7 on a wet and windy afternoon looking to send a message to the rest of the league.
The opponents, 5 year old MK Dons arrived in London looking to usurp the Addicks from 2nd place and capitalise on an uneasy few weeks for Phil Parkinson’s side.
In team news, there was a welcome return to right back in the form of Frazer Richardson and on the bench there was a place for Akpo Sodje, the younger brother of Charlton’s Sam Sodje who signed on an emergency loan from Sheffield Wednesday this morning.
Parky lined his side up in an attacking 4 -4-2 formation with Deon Burton and David Mooney leading the line and hoping to cause havoc to the MK defence.
It was the visitors who drew first blood however, with Aaron Wilbraham unleashing a stunning half volley from outside of the Charlton area which swerved over Carl Ikeme after 9 minutes.
The Addicks did not sit back and crumble as a result of conceding however and only 3 minutes later the sides were level as David Mooney found himself in space with the ball following a Nicky Bailey free kick and skilfully slipped the ball into the net.
Charlton took the lead on 20 minutes thanks to Nicky Bailey who got his head onto the end of a Lloyd Sam cross following some wizardry from the winger.
MK Dons had two great chances to get back into the game in the first half, Kelly Youga stopping the first chance with a goal line clearance before Carl Ikeme stepped up to the plate and made a great save from Wilbraham on the 36 minute mark.
Half Time 2 -1
During the half time break Paul Ince bought his side out early with the hope of getting them back into the game. Sadly for the travelling support however, his tactics seemed to have the opposite effect.
Charlton dominated throughout the 2nd half and were after 64 minutes as a beautiful cross field pass was knocked down to Lloyd Sam, who cleverly jinked between two MK Dons defenders before firing the ball home with his outstretched right foot.
The home support had to wait all of 8 minutes before the next goal, Nicky Bailey’s neatly delivered corner found the head of the rising Sam Sodje who gratefully converted to make the score 4 -1.
On 75 minutes the joyous result was wrapped up thanks to Deon Burton who, following crowd chants of, “We want five!” duly responded and flicked the ball past Willy Gueret in the MK goal for the final goal of the game.
Sam Sodje nearly scored a sixth in the last few minutes of the game, however the Dons were able to keep the ball out on this occasion.
Injury time handbags between Leon McKenzie, Jason Puncheon and Darren Powell nearly saw a red card produced, but in the end both sides finished the game with eleven players on the pitch and a well deserved victory for the Addicks.