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發表於 2005-8-21 03:18 PM
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CHARLTON ATHLETIC v WIGAN ATHLETIC, 1-0 Sat 20 Aug 2005
Darren Bent returned from England's defeat in Denmark to net his third goal of the season as Charlton Athletic maintained their 100 per cent start with a narrow win over Wigan Athletic at The Valley.
The £2.5million summer signing from Ipswich Town was called up for Sven-Goran Eriksson's squad ahead of the trip to Copenhagen, but did not feature during the 4-1 loss.
However, the 21-year-old seemed all the better for his experience with the full international squad for the first time.
Bent hustled the Wigan defence throughout the match and netted the all-important strike late in the first half, which proved enough to see off the Barclays Premiership new boys and leave Charlton with two successive victories.
The JJB Stadium had been packed to capacity for the Latics top-flight bow last Sunday against champions Chelsea, who secured three points only by virtue of a stoppage-time strike from Hernan Crespo.
And around 1,000 supporters had made the long journey down from Lancashire to south-east London, perhaps travelling more in hope than expectation.
Wigan, though, had some early defending to do when Jimmy Bullard pushed Jerome Thomas over and conceded a free-kick, around five yards outside the box on the left.
Danny Murphy, who netted a fine strike at Sunderland last week from similar range, hit the ball well enough, but his effort flew over the bar.
Expectation around The Valley was raised when Denmark winger Dennis Rommedahl - scorer in the drubbing of England - picked up the ball on the right and surged forwards. However, he could only manage to make the edge of the box, before Stephane Henchoz hustled him out of possession.
In the 13th minute, there was a moment of panic in the Charlton box when Jason Roberts almost latched onto a loose ball, but the striker could not make good contact and the Addicks cleared for a corner, which came to nothing.
At the other end, Henchoz needed to make a timely block as Thomas looked to get on the end of Murphy's pass when Charlton broke quickly.
After 23 minutes, Roberts got the better of stand-in skipper Luke Young down the left, and flicked over a teasing cross into the six-yard box where Damien Francis was arriving at pace, but just could not steer his header on target.
It was then the turn of the Wigan goal to lead a charmed life.
Young floated the ball over for Chris Powell, whose header cannoned off the crossbar, and the full-back then sent another looping effort just over after a quick delivery back into the danger area.
The Addicks were continuing to press, with Alexei Smertin - on a season-long loan from Chelsea - pulling the strings in midfield. Wigan, however, got plenty of men behind the ball.
When, with eight minutes to go before the break, Murphy did find half a yard of space, the former Liverpool midfielder could not keep his 20-yard drive down.
Thomas did better with his strike from similar distance a few moments later, but Wigan goalkeeper Mike Pollitt was right behind the ball.
The breakthrough finally came three minutes before the interval when Murphy battled to the right by-line before floating over an inch-perfect pass for Bent to step away from his marker and power in a header at the back post.
And it should have been 2-0 when Bent raced onto Chris Perry's through ball and into the area, only to drag his shot wide of the left-hand post.
Charlton started positively after the break, their England Under-21 striker again causing the visiting defence all sorts of problems with his pace and off-the-ball running.
There was a warning for the home side, though, when the ball dropped kindly for Bullard on the edge of the Charlton area and his drive flashed just wide.
The Addicks had a strong penalty claim waved away, after 59 minutes, when substitute Steve McMillan looked to have handled Rommedahl's cut-back. Referee Rob Styles was unimpressed, though, and Smertin just could not get enough on his glancing header from the return ball into the box.
Bent then peeled off the back of his marker to rifle Smertin's deep cross into the side netting before Murphy flashed in another close effort as Charlton stepped up a gear.
Rommedahl was replaced by Jonatan Johansson with 13 minutes to go, and almost produced another goal for Bent when his cut-back from the right goal-line was smacked against the foot of the post.
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