Charlton 2-1 Hull - Charlton confirm Championship safety

6
Skip to next photo
1/1
Show caption
1/1
This article is brought to you by our exclusive subscriber partnership with our sister title USA Today, and has been written by our American colleagues. It does not necessarily reflect the view of The Herald.

 Charlton Athletic avoided relegation from the Championship with a 2-1 win in their final home game of the season against play-off chasing Hull City.

The hosts had the first big chances of the match, some nice footwork from Charlie Kelman, allowing him to drive into the box, and get an effort away, which required Ivor Pandur to block.

Seconds later, Conor Coady hit a low effort from range, which was split, but quickly reclaimed by the Croatian.

Charlton knew at least a point would guarantee survival, and with the backing of the deafening home support at the Valley, they took the lead in stunning style in the 20th minute with Kelman holding off the Hull defenders and arrowing one into the top corner.

The Valley was like a cauldron of noise before kick-off, but Kelman's goal took the noise up another level.

The opening 30 minutes could not have gone any differently in comparison to what each team was fighting for. Hull were playing like the team fighting for survival, while Charlton were playing like a team in a play-off fight.

The Tigers wasted a glorious chance to draw level just before the break, Joe Gelhardt pulling a shot from the edge of the box wide.

Nathan Jones' side had been exceptional in the first half, completely nullifying Hull in open play, but the visitors showed why they were in the play-off race, equalising with the final chance of the first half.

Paddy McNair's corner was missed completely by Thomas Kaminski, allowing John Egan to head home at the back post, requiring the referee's goal-line technology watch to confirm it. There were claims for a foul on the goalkeeper, but the referee saw nothing in it.

Charlton were mere inches away from regaining the lead five minutes after half-time, Jayden Fevrier's cross rolled all the way across the penalty box, but Harvey Knibbs couldn't get a toe on the end of it, despite stretching all the way for the ball.

Two minutes later, Hull missed an opportunity of their own to take the lead, Liam Millar having a shot blocked, before it landed at the feet of Gelhardt to fire into the side netting.

The Tigers were growing in confidence, as shown by Mohamed Belloumi's trivela pass that travelled right through the centre of Charlton's box, needing a desperate clearance by Lloyd Jones over his own crossbar.

Since his arrival at half-time, Belloumi had a big impact on the game, trying his luck with a driving effort from outside the box, which had Kaminski scrambling to his right-hand side to keep out.

Charlton regained the lead with another piece of individual magic, Jayden Fevrier picking the ball up and taking it to the edge of the box before curling into the bottom corner.

With 20 minutes to go, there could not have been a more important time to get his second goal for Charlton.

Things were getting nervy for the hosts with seven minutes to go, and somehow Hull did not equalise for a second time when Kaminski missed the ball from a set piece, but McNair's volley effort was rushed, and bounced wide of the keeperless net.

Despite being stuck in their own box, Charlton came close to adding a third. A long ball from Kaminski bounced all the way to Lyndon Dykes, who forced a save from Pandur despite the angle being against the Scot.

Fevrier nearly ended the game in style, taking advantage of an open net and running the entire length of the pitch, only to be denied by a sliding tackle from Kyle Joseph.

The noise was deafening at full time, with chants of "we are staying up" bellowed around the majority of the ground.

For Nathan Jones, it was an incredible achievement for Charlton to secure their Championship survival considering what they had been through with injuries this season.

They would also enjoy back-to-back seasons in the second tier for the first time since 2016.

Get involved
with the news

Send your news & photos