Sunderland face Charlton Athletic this weekend in the Sky Bet League One Play-Off Final at Wembley and we got in touch with Addick’s commentator Jamie Whitehead to give us the lowdown on what we can expect this weekend.
First question, Charlton had a storming end to season and pipped both Sunderland and Portsmouth to third place. Did the team perform beyond expectations?
JW: If we go back to the Summer, then yes. It seems like an eternity ago that Charlton rocked up at the Stadium of Light on the opening day without even enough players to fill the bench. But over the following ten months Bowyer and Jackson bought the players together and really started to build something incredible.
There had been a few whispers in SE7 around Christmas of automatic promotion but Karlan Grant’s departure to Huddersfield coinciding with Lyle Taylor’s needless three game ban changed things (Taylor and Accrington keeper Johnny Maxtead were both sent off after a bit off a scuffle in the area… Maxtead’s was rescinded, Taylor’s wasn’t). Karlan scored the winner in that game in what turned it out to be his last goal and home game for the club, a four-game winless win run followed… that was the end of the automatic promotion dream.
But losing only more game in the league until the end of the season tells its own story. Charlton were 3-0 up at half time in the final game of the (regular) season against Rochdale and Lee Bowyer told the players they were one goal from finishing third, they got that. Creeping into third on the final day felt deserved.
Whether it’s at Charlton or not, I really do believe Lee Bowyer has a great managerial career ahead of him. He’s done a fantastic job this year.
What did you make of Charlton’s performance against Doncaster?
JW: Should have been out of sight by the time it got to The Valley. After taking a 2-0 lead in the first game Cullen had a few decent chances and if Taylor had connected with Aribo’s cross, there was absolutely no question that the ball was going in.
The second leg was the last game of all the playoffs, and we said in the commentary before kickoff that Charlton couldn’t rest on their laurels with such a slender lead, the Leeds United v Derby County game in the Championship was still fresh in my mind.
Unfortunately, I think Bielik scored a little too early, his header put us 1-0 up in the second minute and Charlton may have thought “job done”. Doncaster had other ideas and where the much better team and deserved to force extra time after Butler put them ahead on the night right at the death… Just as the Wembley chants was starting.
Extra time flew by but when Pratley slotted it in to make it 4-4 on aggregate just a minute after Marquis had had put Doncaster ahead in the tie, you couldn’t help but allow yourself to think maybe it was our night. We’d lost at home for the first time since October, but if anyone had realised that at the time, nobody cared.
The penalties were nerve racking, they always are. Solly was cool, as was Cullen. Taylor was so relaxed he looked like the was walking to catch a train with over an hour to spare.
It would have been nice if we’d gone through with Naby scoring his penalty than Tommy Rowe missing theirs, but no one’s complaining.
This is Charlton’s first game back at Wembley since playing Sunderland in 1998, just how excited is the fanbase?
I think you’d have to invent a new word to truly describe the level of excitement. And it’s deserved. Charlton fans haven’t had the best few years, but you only needed to see the pitch invasion after the game on Friday to see what it means to the supporters.
I’m speaking to you on the Wednesday before the game and we’re almost at a sellout of the Charlton section at Wembley. I saw somebody on the Charlton Life forum say it was going to be the biggest gathering of Addicks in one place since the 1950s, which is an incredible thought.
And speaking of that game, what was it like as a Charlton fan that day?
JW: I’ll hand you over to my co-commentator Rob Shaw for this one, he’s better equipped to answer it than me, “As an effervescent 21-year-old it was completely exhilarating. That season remains my favourite ever and the day was magical from start to finish. From going to a pub in Greenwich which opened at 8.30am which was not the norm then, to the waves and cheers from fellow fans en route, to the generous and magnanimous way the Sunderland fans we saw responded at the end, as we all shook hands with each other. It was incredible.”
Which Sunderland player are you most fearful of and why?
JW: Well, had things worked out differently in the summer I would be giving Lyle Taylor as my answer here… On a serious note, I don’t think there will be too many people making the short trip up the Jubilee Line too disappointed if Aiden McGeady isn’t quite fit enough to play.
Finally, what is your score prediction?
JW: The team you played on the opening day are much different proposition to the one you’ll be playing on the last day. I’m going for 2-0 with the goals coming from Taylor and Aribo. My daughter Ava will be sat alongside me at Wembley and those are her two favourite players. I’ve asked her and that’s what she thinks, too.
