Town give up three goals in second half display against Charlton

It was a bitter and humbling experience for Ipswich Town fans last night (Tuesday, October 21) as they were beaten by Charlton Athletic at Portman Road.

The 3-0 scoreline for the Londoners was not a true reflection of the game as Town dominated the first period and could have scored three or four goals.

But their defensive lapses came to the fore in the second half when the visitors ran riot and could have added more but for the heroics of substitute goalkeeper Christian Walton who came on in the first half after Alex Palmer suffered a leg injury.

Charlton scored twice through Sonny Carey in the 52nd minute and Macaulay Gillesphey in a pulsating three minute spell with Miles Leaburn adding a third after 64 minutes.

It could have been so different if Town had taken their chances in a one sided first half which included Chuba Akpom’s rising effort striking the Addicks’ bar.

It was the Town’s first home defeat of the campaign after winning three on the trot and Charlton’s second away win of the season moving them up to fifth place in the Championship after being promoted through the League One play off.

Jack Clarke was the stand out player for Town with his tricky wing play and thrusting runs at the Charlton defence.

Ipswich had 30 shots at goal compared to Charlton’s 15 and won the overall possession statistic with 67 per cent of the play.

But try as they may they failed to score despite Akpom hitting the bar and Kasey McAteer having a goal ruled out for offside.

The squad has only a few days to recover now and have to mend the wounds of back to back defeats following the loss at Middlesbrough and now at home to the Addicks.

They take on West Bromwich Albion on Saturday live on Sky TV at 12.30pm.

While Charlton manager Nathan Jones said it was “a magnificent result” for his team Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna said his team failed to show a positive reaction after going behind despite having the lion’s share of the game.

He told BBC Radio Suffolk: “There are two sides to the game. We need to score the goals when we have the opportunity to do so, and we’ve had loads of opportunities, then we’ve given up a poor goal and our reaction was nowhere near good enough after that.

“We didn’t do the fundamentals anywhere near well enough, didn’t find the right response in a difficult moment, and conceded really, really poor goals in quick succession.

“That bit is unacceptable and we have to address it. It was the same in the Middlesbrough game – when things went against us we went far south really quick.

“We have to dig deeper individually and find more unity and togetherness to defend well when things go against us.”