Charlton 2 Shrewsbury Town 1 - Report and pictures
A stoppage-time header from Karlan Grant saw Shrewsbury Town fall to a 2-1 defeat at Charlton Athletic.
All the goals came in the second half, with Lyle Taylor opening the scoring for the home side and Lenell John-Lewis on the mark for Salop - both with their heads as well.
The result means John Askey's men are without a point after their first two League One games. Their next test is the visit of Burton Albion in the Carabao Cup, on Tuesday night.
Analysis
Town made two signings on deadline day and one of them, Ollie Norburn, was in from the off. The other, Lee Angol, travelled to south-east London but did not make the squad.
Greg Docherty, Luke Waterfall, Alex Gilliead and Ryan Haynes were making their full debuts too, while skipper Mat Sadler was named on the bench.
Taylor was the one to watch for the hosts, who only had six substitutes, having netted in their opening day 2-1 loss at Sunderland.
Salop, with Waterfall donning the captain's armband, did not see a great deal of the ball in the opening 20 minutes.
When they did, though, they looked dangerous. Gilliead was undoubtedly their sharpest player in the opening exchanges, running at the Addicks backline with every opportunity. He would have had a good chance to score too, had Aaron Amadi-Holloway not misdirected his cross from the left-hand side.
Charlton had a similar situation at the other end just prior to that, with Lewis Page's delivery being too powerful for Patrick Bauer to get on the end of.
New-boy Norburn was having a lot more touches as the half-hour mark approached. The blue and amber faithful, in the Jimmy Seed stand, were making their voices heard, chanting 'Askey's Barmy Army'.
Town slowly started to take charge, quickly shifting the ball from left to right and then looking to find target man Amadi-Holloway. That approach almost paid dividends as Shaun Whalley's cross was brought down by the big striker. He teed up Docherty, whose low drive sailed narrowly wide.
Salop were growing in confidence - getting more bodies up the pitch - but almost exposed as Grant beat the offside trap and latched onto an over-the-top pass. Just as he was about to shoot, Haynes saved the day with a beautifully-timed sliding tackle. Top defending from the former Coventry City man.
There was not a change for the start of the second period from Town, but they were soon forced into one. Amadi-Holloway, after almost breaking the deadlock with a close-range header, limped off and John-Lewis entered the fray.
Askey's charges continued to knock on the door following that switch. Docherty's goalbound strike was cleared off the line by Chris Solly, before Omar Beckles volleyed just off target.
It appeared they would soon find the net, but they were left to rue those missed opportunities as the Addicks went ahead against the run of play - Taylor rising highest to direct home after George Lapslie's ball in from the right.
A couple more switches came from Salop as they chased an equaliser - Anthony Grant and Fejiri Okenabirhie coming on for Norburn and Josh Laurent.
And they got one, with two substitutes combining for it - Okenabirhie finding John-Lewis who gratefully nodded in.
A draw probably would have been a fair result but Town walked away with nothing after Grant got on the scoresheet late on for Charlton.
Key Moments
55' So close! Greg Docherty thinks he has tapped the ball in for Town but Charlton skipper Chris Solly clears off the line.
62' Goal! Charlton 1-0 Town. Lyle Taylor heads home. George Lapslie’s cross finds Taylor, who powerfully guides the ball past Joel Coleman.
83' GOAL! Charlton 1-1 Town. Lenell John-Lewis heads into the corner following Fejiri Okenabirhie's lovely left-footed cross.
90' Goal! Goal! Charlton 2-1 Town. Karlan Grant scores. Another header, with the unmarked Grant lopping this one over Coleman.
Teams
Charlton (4-4-2): Phillips; Solly (c), Bauer, Sarr, Page; Lapslie (Dijksteel, 89), Pratley, Aribo, Marshall (Morgan, 46); K Grant, Taylor (Hackett-Fairchild, 90)
Subs not used: Ajose, Maloney, Maynard-Brewer (gk)
Shrewsbury (4-3-3): Coleman; Bolton, Waterfall, Beckles, Haynes; Docherty, Laurent (Okenabirhie, 74), Norburn (A Grant, 63); Whalley, Amadi-Holloway (John-Lewis, 52), Gilliead
Subs not used: Sadler, Colkett, Barnett, Arnold (gk)
Attendance: 9,429 (435 Salop)
Referee: Craig Hicks (Surrey)
