On a wet and windy day in South West England Charlton Athletic faced a tough challenge in to form of Yeovil Town as the Addicks looked to gain their first away victory since the end of August.
The Addicks lined up with the same team that finished the previous game against MK Dons, with Grant Basey at left back and regular left back Kelly Youga moving across the back line to take up position as right back.
Phil Parkinson’s men struggled throughout the first half, playing against the vicious wind, the Addicks found themselves to be the much poorer team in the game.
That said, the Addicks were able to hold their own enough to stifle Yeovil, until the 28th minute, when Ryan Mason broke through the defence to go one on one with Carl Ikeme. Before Mason could take his chance however, Sam Sodje bought the Yeovil man down outside the area, preventing any goal scoring opportunity but guaranteeing a straight red card for the Charlton defender.
Charlton did not crumble as they were taken down to ten men though, and were only unable to go into half time at level thanks to Jonathan Obika scoring in the 43rd minute.
The second half began with Akpo Sodje coming on to replace Therry Racon and the introduction of Sam Sodje’s younger brother alongside playing with the wind behind them revitalised Charlton.
And after only ten minutes of the second half the substitute struck with a shot from 30 yards, which managed to fly into the top right hand corner of the goal and mark a first ever Charlton goal for Akpo Sodje.
From the moment the scores were level, the Addicks stepped the game up a gear, with a number of good chances including the goal scorer Sodje watching one of his shots bounced off of the post.
In the end neither side were able to strike a killing blow. The referee drew the game to a close with a 1 -1 draw being a good result for the ten man Addicks.
Colchester and Norwich were unable to capitalise with wins in their games so Charlton remain 3 points clear in 2nd place with 6 points between them and Leeds and a tough home game against 7th placed Bristol Rovers on Tuesday night.
Come on you Addicks!