An enjoyable day out at a nice little ground, but we were lucky to get a point today.
The start was unbelievably sloppy, even by some of our recent standards. We lost the ball in midfield, Fleetwood drove forward and Long fizzed in a low shot which might have taken a small deflection to beat Rudd. This was a running theme; Fleetwood players were constantly appearing in the gaps between the midfield and our defence, creating the kind of attacking threat completely beyond Crofts, Foley and Ulvestad's ken. A number of shots from just outside the area needed desperate, last-minute blocks, and another effort grazed the far post. Their second came in a similar fashion to the first, though credit should go to Ball for curling in a wonderful shot which gave Rudd no chance.
In between, we grabbed an equaliser. Holmes had a poor game - we can forgive him one every now and then - but his left-foot cross from the right was perfect for Magennis, who headed back across the keeper for his first Charlton goal. It was no less than he deserved for what has been a stellar start to his Charlton career, and it was in keeping with his all-round excellent performance. Being a target man is an unforgiving job, requiring both brawn and brain, and he has both in spades.
The second half was for the most part frustrating. Our plan at corners was to play it to the back post for Magennis to try and knock it back into the penalty area, which in theory is not a bad idea. What it does mean, though, is that if a cross is overhit it will go straight out of play, and this happened infuriatingly often. Magennis and Ajose still aren't quite on the same wavelength, and Ajose's consistently poor first touch will be what holds him back from playing higher than League One. Nor is his finishing quite clinical enough either - the one chance he did get today he blazed high over the bar.
However, we did exert some pressure on the Fleetwood goal, and on 87 minutes we levelled things up again after a move involving all three substitutes. Botaka got past his man on the right, slipped in Foley in the penalty area and Novak was on the end of his low cross to bundle the ball in from a yard out. His season has been stop-start so far, but he did very well when he came on today and, like Magennis, will be delighted to be off the mark as an Addick. He nearly scored before that, chipping a clever effort from a narrow angle which the keeper only just pushed onto the roof of the net. Botaka, too, looked a real threat and is a handy option to throw on against tiring defences.
Ultimately, though, today was a warning. Fleetwood were superior in nearly every position, and will in all probability cause lots of teams problems this season. Our midfield won't. Ulvestad is cut from the same cloth as Crofts and surely can't have been Slade's number one target, while Crofts himself is painfully slow and not blessed with the passing ability to make up for it. The lack of creativity in the middle means that, no matter how much we try to play the ball out from the back, eventually we end up going long towards Magennis or giving it to Holmes in the hope that he can weave his magic. Both are excellent players, but others need to step up to the plate if we are to get anywhere near the promotion race.
