An Addicks victory to savour
An Addicks victory to savour
Paul Sullivan - Fan writerMon, August 24, 2026 at 9:12 AM UTC
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All Championship wins are to be rejoiced. This one felt like it would be particularly memorable.
Charlton Athletic arrived at West Ham with 59,500 fans expecting only one outcome.
By the final whistle, 3,000 travelling Addicks were bouncing in a stadium gone eerily quiet, and the rest were left wondering how a side freshly relegated from the Premier League had been undone by a team that spent last season fighting its own battles at the wrong end of the table.
The opener had the fingerprints of Nathan Jones's meticulous planning and the spontaneity that makes football irresistible in equal measure. A long throw, the set-piece weapon drilled on the training ground, was met not with the expected header, but an audacious overhead finish from captain Lloyd Jones — improvisation no coaching manual could have scripted.
The second was pure quality. Miles Leaburn muscled Konstantinos Mavropanos off the ball — a reminder not to take liberties with him — before teeing up Tyreece Campbell for an exquisite finish.
A week after scoring in front of the Covered End, Campbell delivered on the big stage. Two academy graduates, still writing their names into Charlton folklore.
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West Ham pulled one back and, as they always threaten to, might have found an equaliser.
Instead, Charlton simply refused to blink. That composure — sticking to the plan rather than panicking — has become the hallmark of this side, evident too against Derby County last time out.
Although a tad fortunate to keep all three points, with Taty Castellanos' missed penalty in added time, a West Ham friend texted me to say Charlton deserved the win.
Arthur Okonkwo, on his debut, produced the save of the game to deny Divine Mukasa, growing in authority with every cross claimed. In front of him, Danny McNamara, Jones, Billy Koumetio and Amari'i Bell — who kept Jarrod Bowen quiet all afternoon — formed a formidable rearguard.
We continued our impressive away record against relegated Premier League clubs after wins against Ipswich Town and Middlesbrough plus a draw against Southampton last season.
Charlton fans have had their appetites whetted. So a trip to Tottenham — in my opinion the best stadium in the land — for a midweek in the Carabao Cup tie is a glorious follow-up.
And you never know…
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