It will be all to play for in Thursday night’s League One play-off semi-final second leg between Charlton and Wycombe after the first leg at Adams Park ended goalless.
Which teams goes to Wembley to face either Leyton Orient or Stockport will be decided at The Valley from 8pm, in a game live on Sky Sports Football.
Wycombe’s automatic promotion hopes had been all-but extinguished on Easter Monday when they lost 4-0 to Charlton in this very fixture and there was some natural apprehension among the home fans that the first leg could follow a similar storyline.
Thursday 15th May 7:30pm
Kick off 8:00pm
It was actually the Chairboys who brought the early threat, though, with their aerial bombardment causing problems for goalkeeper Will Mannion, who had the evening sun directly in his line of sight.
In truth, there were few moments of quality in the first half. The teams created a combined xG figure of 0.32 and there were more yellow cards (3) than shots on target (2), both of which came from the hosts.
Though the second half was largely similar, Charlton’s Matt Godden was denied by Chairboys stopper Will Norris three times in search of the opener.
He hit his first, 20 minutes from time, straight at Norris with time and space ahead of him, before his superb volley after 88 minutes palmed behind from a tight angle. His connection on the resulting corner was pushed away from danger, too.
And so, with no way through for either side, everything is riding on one game on Thursday night in south east London.
Dodds: That wasn’t a game for the purists!
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Wycombe Wanderers boss Mike Dodds gives his assessment of his side’s 0-0 draw against Charlton in the first leg of the League One play-off semi-final.
Wycombe’s Mike Dodds on Sky Sports Football:
“I felt we were really good out of possession and I have to admit, I thought they were really well organised. I’ve been involved in a few of those games where it will come down to a moment; we had a big chance early on with Dan Udoh, they had a chance at the end where Will [Norris] has pulled off a really good save.
“It certainly wasn’t a game for the purists. I’m not going to sit here and deny that! But when you play against a Nathan Jones team, you’ve got to make sure you do the nuts and bolts and I felt we did that. We probably needed a moment of quality at times, and we didn’t have that, but we’ve given ourselves a real opportunity.
“We’ve got a really strong away record and we back ourselves in terms of being organised at The Valley.”
Jones: Strong finish the positive ahead of second leg
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Charlton manager Nathan Jones discusses his team’s 0-0 draw with Wycombe in the first leg of the League One play-off semi-final.
Charlton’s Nathan Jones on Sky Sports Football
“It was a cagey affair. A tight first game where no one wanted to give too much away. They came out with a front three with pace and power and tried to play into them at every opportunity. It was difficult to get any rhythm, but I’m really pleased, really proud of how we stood up to everything they did.
We’ve come away from home, we’ve kept a clean sheet and we finished really strongly – and that’s the real positive for us.
“You’re not coming here and just roll Wycombe over and win 4-0 again. It’s a different game, they had a different mindset today in terms of how they played. It’s disrespectful to even think that of anyone. It wasn’t the prettiest advert for League One football, but the stakes are high.
“Now we start all over again and, for us, it’s as simple as having to win a home game.
“Our fans have been outstanding. They were noisy tonight and they filled that away end. It’s a different atmosphere on Thursday – we had 23-24,000 the other day and we expect more, so I think it’ll be a good atmosphere, good occasion. It’s evenly poised.”