Bowyer’s fury after Stanley fightback
JORDAN Clark scored an equaliser 12 minutes from time to rescue a point for Accrington Stanley against Charlton Athletic.
It was the first-ever meeting between the sides in the league and both sides shared the spoils in a lively encounter.
Charlton opened the scoring in the 15th minute when Lewis Page raced down the left wing and played in a cross, finding the head of Karlan AhearneGrant, whose header hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced down with the assistant referee judging it had crossed the line.
AhearneGrant could have doubled Charlton’s advantage with a shot from 22 yards which went wide, while Billy Kee came close for Stanley after 44 minutes, but his header was just the wrong side of a post.
Stanley pressed for the equaliser after the break but Charlton were dangerous on the counter attack, with Darren Pratley forcing a good save out of Connor Ripley.
However, the home side’s pressure finally told when Sam Finley’s ball in caused chaos in the area, both Sean McConville and Offrande Zanzala had shots before Clark scored from close range. Charlton boss Lee Bowyer couldn’t hide his disappointment after the final whistle.
He said: “It’s not good enough from start to finish. We were sloppy in possession, our decision-making at times was horrendous and it boils down to not being good enough.
“With the players we started with and have coming off the bench, that result is not acceptable for me.
“One point coming here is not good enough. We spend all week working on things in the training ground but I can’t control that players don’t make the right decisions in the final third.”
In contrast, John Coleman was disappointed his Accrington side didn’t win the game. “It was a good game and I think we played well, Charlton are a good side and we matched them all the way,” said the Reds boss.
“The second half it was a bit scrappy, it was stop-start with a lot of fouls and I think both teams lost their way a bit.
“In the last 20 minutes I thought we were terrific, we went for it, we got the goal and didn’t sit back.
“We went all guns blazing to get the winner and I think we were unfortunate not to do so.”