TAYLOR HITS LUCKY 13 TO PIP POMPEY
LYLE TAYLOR grabbed his 13th League One goal of the campaign to seal a vital victory for Charlton at home to promotion rivals Portsmouth.
Joe Aribo had fired the Addicks ahead four minutes before the break, only to see that effort cancelled out by Ronan Curtis on the brink of half-time.
But Taylor was ideally placed to sweep home what turned out to be the winning goal in the 51st minute as the Addicks closed the gap on Pompey to just two points.
The result does further damage to Pompey’s hopes of gaining automatic promotion, following a slump in form since the turn of the year, and while they will be desperate to return to winning ways they should be capable of holding on to a play-off place.
For Charlton fans, meanwhile, the timing could not be much better, coming just a couple of days after some controversial comments made by owner Roland Duchatelet, who raised eyebrows when he demanded that the EFL buy the club off him.
Josh Cullen was denied what looked a certain 20th-minute opener for Charlton when teammate Igor Vetokele was unfortunately placed to somehow block his goal-bound effort.
An unmarked Aribo headed off target from a corner, Taylor blazed over from long range and Cullen made a poor connection with Vetokele’s clever pass as the Addicks continued to press. Craig MacGillivray was forced into a save by another Taylor attempt from outside the box, but there was nothing the Pompey keeper could do to prevent the hosts going in front four minutes before the break.
Cullen picked out Aribo inside the box, who took two touches before drilling an angled low shot from eight yards into the bottom corner of the net.
Parity was restored on the stroke of half-time when Curtis rose majestically at the back post to meet Lee Brown’s corner and power home an unstoppable header past Phillips.
Curtis had the ball in the back of the net again but was correctly adjudged to be offside early in the second half, before Charlton restored their lead in the 51st minute.
Substitute Ben Reeves teed up Taylor and the Addicks striker made no mistake with the simplest of close-range finishes. Dillon Phillips produced a decent stop to keep out Curtis’ dipping volley, while Tariqe Fosu came close for Charlton with a dangerous shot that sailed inches over. The Addicks were almost pegged back again in the 83rd minute when Jamal Lowe played the ball across the face of goal and Curtis was just unable to apply a finishing touch. Pompey substitute Brett Pitman saw a curling effort go agonisingly inches over and Lowe’s stoppage-time strike was blocked as Charlton bravely held on.