It should come as no surprise to learn that the bookies make Fleetwood Town 15/8 favourites ahead of our game up there on Saturday.
Fleetwood (who play in front of 3,000 to 4,000 fans for most games) have made a very impressive start to the season and are unbeaten since their first day defeat at Port Vale. The fact that five of those seven games have been drawn meant that their achievement was somewhat under the radar but their 1-0 win at fancied Peterborough on Tuesday evening meant that pundits have begun to sit up and take notice.
Draws at Morecambe (1-1) and Lincoln (2-2) were matched by home draws with Wycombe (1-1), Derby and Cheltenham (0-0) and a win over Plymouth (2-1). The result at Peterborough meant that they leapfrogged us in the table and are now in twelfth place.
Despite winning only one of their last twenty games last season they managed to avoid relegation by dint of a superior goal difference to Gillingham. It was no surprise when manager Stephen Crainey (who had taken over from Simon Grayson in December) was shown the door. He was replaced by Celtic (404 appearances) and Scotland (55 caps) legend Scott Brown in his first managerial appointment.
Town chairman Andy Pilley said: “I’m absolutely delighted to name Scott Brown as the club’s new first-team Head Coach. It was important as a club we took our time with this appointment and was delighted by the high calibre of candidates who applied. After a thorough interview process it was clear Scott was the outstanding candidate and someone who’s a born leader, a serial winner, and incredibly serious about becoming a successful manager. We feel we are the perfect club for Scott to start his managerial career and he’s the perfect person to lead us to a new era at Highbury Stadium - it’s a hugely exciting appointment for Fleetwood Town."
Our record at Highbury Stadium is (as it should be!) pretty good with two wins, two draws and only one defeat. A late Lee Novak equaliser secured us a 2-2 draw on our first visit in September 2016. A Tariqe Fosu-Henry hat trick saw us win 3-1 in 2017 and maintain a play-off position. Our only defeat was 0-1 in February 2019 in a game which saw Patrick Bauer sent off. Jayden Stockley scored an early goal in February 2021 but we were pegged back to 1-1 and last season goals from Stockley and Leko were enough for a 2-1 win. If we had lost that game we would have been bottom of League One.
With morale among Charlton supporters currently plummeting, we salute the few who are travelling up to Fleetwood this weekend. The sorry fact is that a draw would be a good result although probably not good enough to raise spirits much. Hoping for a 0-0 at Fleetwood is not what we were led to believe in when Thomas Sandgaard took over at the helm.