Charlton have played sixteen home league games so far this season but have not once entered the final ten minutes of a game with anything more than a one goal lead. That is getting on for three hours of nail biting agony that they have served up for the home faithful. It is a little better away from home where they were two goals up at Rotherham and Fleetwood but those are the only two occasions all season (thirty games) when supporters could perhaps have had an opportunity to think about relaxing a little.
Will it be the same again on Tuesday evening against Bradford - the team with the worst current form record in League One?
Having won 2-1 at Fleetwood on New Year's Day Bradford sat in fifth place and were a comfortable eight points ahead of seventh place Rotherham and eleven ahead of Charlton. They were then dumped out of the FA Cup at Yeovil and went on to lose five consecutive league games including an embarrassing 0-4 home defeat by AFC Wimbledon. Manager Stuart McCall was sacked and the team managed to secure their first point of 2018 on Saturday with a 2-2 home draw against bottom place Bury. Amazingly, they are still in the play-off places but they now find themselves four points behind Rotherham and only two ahead of Charlton. One of the issues which new manager Simon Grayson will have to address quickly is their porous defence which has conceded 49 goals. Only three clubs in the division have conceded more and this explains Bradford's negative goal difference (minus 2).
Charlton's 1-0 win at Bradford in October is seen as one of their more impressive and professional performances of the season and something similar would be gratefully received on Tuesday, particularly if it includes seeing out added on time without conceding a goal. Karl Robinson has come under heavy criticism for the four points that have been lost in the final few minutes of the last two games and there will be high anxiety if they are yet again defending a narrow lead when the board goes up.
The corresponding fixture last year (March 14th) resulted in a 1-1 draw with Timothee Dieng equalising a Jorge Teixeira goal. Amazingly, only one of Charlton's starting eleven in that game of just eleven months ago - Patrick Bauer - is likely to start on Tuesday, although Adam Chicksen will probably be in Bradford's team.
We hope to be sitting back in our seat for the final ten minutes as Charlton control the game from a comfortable 2-0 position.