Charlton limped out of the bottom three on Saturday evening after the goalless home draw to Leeds United.

 Charlton Live’s LEWIS CATT reports from The Valley

The Addicks had to settle for just a point on Saturday after a 0-0 draw with Leeds United at The Valley. Both sides had great chances to go on and win the game but with some strong defending from the Addicks and some fantastic saves by both goalkeepers, a draw was probably a fair result.

Charlton made two changes to the side that lost to Brighton last weekend with Johnnie Jackson coming into midfield allowing Alou Diarra to partner Harry Lennon at the back in the absence of Patrick Bauer. Tareiq Holmes-Dennis came in at left back with Morgan Fox being placed on the bench. Ricardo Vaz Te kept his place leading he line alongside Ademola Lookman and Reza Ghoochannejhad.

Charlton managed to carve out the first chance of the opening period after 10 minutes of play when Vaz Te threaded a beautiful through ball into the path of Reza who managed to beat Leeds keeper Marco Silvestri with the ball rolling just wide of the far post. Charlton were the better side in a dull opening 45 minutes and another chance came along just after when Johann Berg Gudmundsson found Lookman, who beat his marker to shoot towards the bottom left of the goal only for Silvestri to save again.

Leeds United began to start creating some chances with the first coming through the impressive Mowatt who tested Henderson from a free kick from 25 yards out. The Irishman though was equal to it. Two more chances from Gudmundsson and Reza tested Silvestri before the sides headed down the tunnel all-square at the break.

The second half started and already looked to be ten times better than the dull opening 45 minutes. The Addicks again created the first chance of the half through the lively Lookman who just dragged his shot wide of the post. Shortly after a fantastic piece of passing football from the home side resulted in Vaz Te laying off Reza who had Lookman free to his left but the Iranian decided to take the shot alone and it rolled harmlessly wide.

The Addicks again came close just on the hour mark when Holmes-Dennis played a dangerous low ball into the box which almost fell to Reza who had the ball nicked away from him before it eventually fell to the skipper Johnnie Jackson whose shot was tipped away by the impressive Silvestri. The next chance came and Charlton should have been ahead, Reza squared for Vaz Te whose effort was magnificently saved by Silvestri for a corner. What is it with us and fantastic opposition keepers?!

Vaz Te had another chance from a free kick after Lookman was upended 25 yards out, Silvestri though was equal to it.

Now Leeds begun to pile on the pressure and the Addicks were thankful for some heroic defending from…. Chris Wood?! The Leeds striker got in the way of a certain goal, blocking an effort from Lewis Cook.

There was to be another heart in mouth moment when Tom Adeyemi somehow managed to hit the outside of the post from less the 6 yards out. The Leeds faithful thought it was in, as did big Steve Evans who was then told politely to sit down by the Covered End. It was Leeds who piled on the pressure in search of a winner in the last 10 minutes with Henderson being called into action to make a fantastic save to prevent Charlie Taylor sending Leeds home with all 3 points.

A nervous five minutes of stoppage time was rather too familiar for the Addicks who always seem to go into absolute fits of panic in the closing stages of games recently but Leeds could not get through and the spoils were shared between the two sides. A fair result in all if not a little disappointing. Bolton on Tuesday night is a must win for the Addicks.

Gaffers Notes:

Karel Fraeye: “Today we showed that we had learned our lessons from Ipswich and Brighton. We defended like men. We coped very well with their aggressive style of play. We put our feet against theirs and that was a big step forward. 
Steve Evans- “Charlton have lost games here this season- Ipswich came and won 3-0. I watched the full re run of that and they never got the hiding they did in the second half today. It was an absolute annihilation, but they held on and got the same return we did”

Charlton Side:

Henderson, Solly, Diarra, Lennon, Holmes-Dennis, Gudmundsson, Cousins, Jackson, Ghoochannejhad, Vaz Te, Lookman.

Subs:

Pope, Sarr, Bergdich, Fox, Ba, Makienok, Ahearne-Grant

Charlton Live Man Of The Match:

Harry Lennon- Looked calm and composed in defence, Kept Leeds at bay. Very promising game from the youngster.

You can follow Lewis on Twitter – @LewisCatt9