Ipswich Town 2 Charlton Athletic 0: Charlton's play-off hopes slip away
It says a lot about the nature of the Championship that Charlton Athletic – who until last week were genuine candidates for automatic promotion – are now just two points closer to the top two places in the table than they are to the relegation zone.
Not that there is any possibility of Charlton going down, although their run of just one win in eight games will need to improve drastically if they are to arrest their slide into mid-table mediocrity. Charlton now lie in ninth position and face an uphill task if they are to make the play-offs.
"This team has proved consistently that they are indifferent at times," manager Alan Pardew explained after their third defeat in a week. "We reach levels that the other teams can't reach, and that's what we've got to hinge on; that we're going to hit some sort of form and put a run together and get through the play offs."
Ipswich overtook Charlton in the table thanks to goals in either half from Owen Garvan and Danny Haynes. In Garvan, a Republic of Ireland Under-21 international, Ipswich had the class act on the pitch. On St Patrick's weekend he brought a little bit of Irish luck with Ipswich's opener, when he found the top corner from the left touchline after 20 minutes.
Haynes' goal was a beautiful dipping volley from 20 yards after Charlton had failed to clear an Alan Quinn corner. It sealed Ipswich's victory, but only added to the chaos of the Championship table.
Goals: Garvan (20) 1-0; Haynes (53) 2-0.
Ipswich (4-4-2): Bywater; Wright, Bruce, De Vos, Sito; Norris (Hayne, 25), Sumulikoski, Garvan, Quinn, Lee (Miller, 81), Counago (Kuqi, 71). Substitutes not used: Colgan (gk), Harding.
Charlton (4-5-1): Weaver; Halford, Sodje, McCarthy, Thatcher; Ambrose, Semedo (Iwelumo, 59), Zheng Zhi (Varney, 82), Holland, Thomas; Lita (Gray, 82). Substitutes not used: Elliot (gk), Fortune.
Referee: N Miller (Durham).
Booked: Ipswich Lee Charlton Semedo, McCarthy.
Man of the match: Garvan .
Attendance: 23,539.
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