AFTER having more than 20,000 at a league game at The Valley in August for the first time since 2008, Charlton Athletic are set to welcome another bumper crowd for this Saturday’s Championship clash against Leicester City.
The majority of the attendance for the first game of the season against Watford were rewarded when Harvey Knibbs scored the only goal on his debut in the 94th minute.
The game against the Foxes kicks off at the earlier time of 12.30pm, with the Fan Zone, Meantime Fans’ Bar and Bartram’s open from 10am.
Meanwhile, Addicks boss Nathan Jones was thrilled with his side’s 0-0 draw at last season’s play-off semi-finals Bristol City at Ashton Gate on Tuesday night.
The hosts had the chance to go ahead when Anis Mehmeti hit the woodwork in the second half.
Robins goalkeeper Radek Vítek denied Rob Apter, pushed the ball on to the post to prevent George Tanner scoring an own goal and then smothered Harvey Knibbs’ effort as the sides settled for a draw.
“I was really happy with the performance,” Jones said.
“To come away with a point from a side that won 4-1 last week away at Sheffield United, it shows we’re in a decent place.
“I thought we were truly outstanding defensively. It’s the second game we’ve kept a clean sheet – I would have liked us to have been a bit more fluid but, overall, I thought we were excellent.
“The first half was pretty even and I thought we had to defend really well.
“They’ve got some real talent, but I thought we handled everything they had to throw at us.
“But in the second half, we came into it and I thought we were the better side. I thought we were going to go on to win it, but for a little bit of quality and know-how and that’s probably the only thing we lacked today.”
“We showed that we can compete at a Championship level and that’s the first obstacle that we have to overcome. We have to rubber-stamp that foothold in the Championship and then we can start to evolve into a more fluid and aggressive football team.”
Jones added: “The fans were truly outstanding. They packed the away end and we gave them something to get behind. I just have a tinge of disappointment that we couldn’t have nicked it so we could have sent them home delirious rather than just content.”
Meanwhile, centre-back Alex Mitchell has joined League One side Plymouth Argyle on a season-long loan.
The 23-year-old defender made 34 appearances for the Addicks last season to help the club sealed promotion to the Championship.
Mitchell made his debut in the Pilgrims’ 1-0 defeat to Leyton Orient at Home Park on Tuesday night.
Jones explained the move. He said: “Alex was an integral part of our team that got promoted. Last summer we needed to improve our defence and he helped us do that and has been important for us culturally and in terms of professionalism.
“He’s at an age where he needs game-time and given the form of others and our new signings, the loan move to a good club like Plymouth was a good opportunity and we weren’t going to stand in his way.
“He’s been part of two very strong defences in the last two seasons, with us and before that with Lincoln City – and he’ll be an excellent signing for Plymouth.”
