Brown off as Addicks win

4:53pm Wednesday 3rd October 2001

IF you had suggested after 25 minutes of this extraordinary fixture that Charlton would win their first home league win of the season, most people would have thought you mad.

As the injured Steve Brown was stretchered off to the accompaniment of a red card from referee Mike Dean, Addicks fans responded to the decision by littering the pitch with merchandise catalogues.

But when the consequent five-minute delay ended, Charlton still looked a class above a clueless Leicester side, and two goals from Jonatan Johansson and Shaun Bartlett sent the Foxes to the bottom of the table.

And the drama was not just confined to the game, for as Leicester finished the match with nine men, manager Peter Taylor ended by losing his job on Sunday night.

Given what was to follow, the match actually kicked off in mundane fashion. Both sides spluttered to find their rhythm and only burst into life when a through ball caught Charlton's Brown off-balance. Aiming to make amends, he thrust up an arm on the edge of the penalty area to prevent the ball reaching the unmarked Dean Sturridge.

As Brown lay on the floor with what seemed to be a badly twisted ankle, the Charlton players and supporters became enraged with Leicester players surrounding the referee and demanding Brown's dismissal.

The subsequent red card for deliberate handball was duly followed by hundreds of catalogues being flung on to the pitch by dissenting fans.

The incident sparked the home side into life though, and within minutes Ian Walker was forced to palm aside a Johansson drive, while Junior Lewis blocked a goalbound Mark Kinsella shot.

Unfortunately, for Lewis, it was to be almost his final action of the game, and the merest of contact between the defender and Johansson as they both chased a long ball saw the assistant referee into action.

As Lewis was sent off, it was hard to say who was the more bemused, the player or the crowd. Quite what the linesman saw that the crowd, referee, and those in the two dug-outs did not, is hard to say. But, obviously, a trip the opticians should be his No.1 priority after what was one of the worst decisions ever seen.

The decision turned the course of the game and five minutes later Chris Powell surged down the left-hand side and his cross was met by the diving figure of Johansson to give the Addicks the lead just before half-time.

Leicester never recovered after the break and things got worse when Bartlett turned the ball home from close range after a Johansson cross after 56 minutes.

When Matt Heath was later carried off after a collision with Mark Fish, City were reduced to nine men, having used all three substitutes already.

Alan Curbishley introduced record signing Jason Euell and, after hitting two shots over the bar, his best chance to break his scoring duckcame in the final seconds as Kinsella's drive ricocheted off Walker's chest, but Euell's instinctive header hit the post.

Editors Choice