Tomorrow the Addicks take on Luton Town at Kenilworth Road. The Hatters currently sit 12th in the league with 12 points from 9 games with former Charlton U21s manager Nathan Jones at the helm.
The away stand has been sold out for this game in which is set to see 1,000 Charlton fans making the journey to Bedfordshire.
A total of 71 games have been played between the two since the first game kicked off in 1922, unfortunately for us, that game ended 2-0 to Luton. Charlton has managed 25 wins over The Hatters, however, they have accumulated 33 wins and picked up 13 draws.
The last time we played against them was a 3-1 win in the FA Cup with Scott Wagstaff, Joe Anyinsah and Johnnie Jackson grabbing the goals.
A memorable fixture against Luton was back in 2003 in the 2nd round of the Carling Cup, back then the Hatters were in the second division which is now League One and we were a thriving Premier League side. But on that day, none of that mattered, within 32 minutes Charlton were 2-0 down through former Charlton player Kevin Foley who was to sign for us in 2016 and Dave Bayliss. Charlton was not down and out as two goals from Scott Parker and Kevin Lisbie gave us the comeback that we needed. However, Luton also showed they were not to be messed with as Gary Mcsheffrey pulled off a fantastic curling effort to put it past Irishman Dean Kiely in the Charlton Goal. Charlton needed something quick otherwise humiliation was on the horizon.
Jamal Campbell-Ryce came off the bench and then out of nowhere he embarked on a truly amazing run to set up Paolo Di Canio as he headed in the 90th minute to make it 3-3, extra-time was on its way.
Charlton took the lead for the first time in the game after Claus Jensen picked up the ball at the edge of the box to score a great strike. Once again Luton proved they are not an easy team to beat as Captain Chris Coyne managed to sneak one in on the 110th minute.
It was now up to penalties and Chris Coyne who earlier scored the equalizer for Luton had his penalty saved by Dean Kiely and it ended 8-7 on penalties.
In team news, Charlton has been handed a boost with Darren Pratley making a return. Bielik’s injury is taking longer to heal than expected which may add another ten days on to his injury. Billy Clarke is very close to returning, but will not feature in this game.
Moving on to Luton, they have signed a free agent and former Brighton winger Kazenga LuaLua who may be in contention for the starting line up. Striker Danny Hylton may have to miss this one as he is suffering from ahamstring problem. Euan O’Kane will also be absent after he broke his tibia against Bristol Rovers.
For my prediction, I think Charlton can win this game, with the travelling support and the teams fighting spirit I feel we can beat anyone in this league and my prediction is 2-0 with Lye Taylor as the first goal scorer.
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