Northampton Town 0 Charlton 5
Charlton were in scintillating attacking form as they beat Northampton Town 5-0 at Sixfields Stadium.
Greg Docherty netted twice, with Tyreece Campbell, Miles Leaburn and Danny Hylton also finding the target, while the Addicks kept a third consecutive clean sheet – a ninth of the season.
The result moves the Addicks to within four points of the play-off places ahead of Charlton’s Boxing Day clash with Cambridge United at The Valley.
With an illness bug in the squad, Nathan Jones made four changes from the side that drew with Mansfield Town last Saturday.
It didn’t take long for one of those replacements to make an impact as Docherty gave the Addicks a ninth-minute lead. Tyreece Campbell challenged for a ball into the box from the right from Thierry Small, the loose ball fell for the Charlton captain in the box who took a touch before a calm, left-footed finish through a crowded penalty area.
It was nearly 2-0 three minutes later when Leaburn headed Tyreece Campbell’s cross from the left just wide of goal.
It didn’t take long for Charlton to get a deserved second with Tyreece Campbell and Leaburn again linking up. This time Leaburn was the provider and his pass was perfectly weighted for Tyreece Campbell, getting in behind the home defence and toe poking with power past Northampton goalkeeper Nik Tzanev.
The Charlton dominance forced Northampton into a tactical timeout, as Tzanev received treatment in the 24th minute.
The break didn’t stop the Addicks’ momentum and Charlton’s third came from a long ball from Macaulay Gillesphey which the Northampton defence didn’t deal with under pressure from Luke Berry. Leaburn controlled well, shifted onto his left foot and made no mistake with a low finish.
Northampton failed to test Ashley Maynard-Brewer in the opening half and while Cameron McGeehan had two shots at goal early in the second half, neither gave the Charlton stopper any problems.
Charlton’s fourth came from the right foot of Docherty and while the strike was excellent, huge credit for the goal must go to Berry. The former Luton man got on the end of a well-weighted ball into the right channel by Conor Coventry, dropped his shoulder to get away from his defender and to the byline. Berry’s low pull back fell to Docherty who smashed into the top corner of the goal.
Tzanev had to be at his best to stop the Addicks adding a fifth as he blocked away Small’s fiery, right-footed shot from just inside the penalty area.
To put the icing on the cake the fifth did come with substitute Danny Hylton scoring against his former team, calmly finishing a pullback from Alex Mitchell, who had done well to win the ball high in the Northampton half.
Northampton Town: Tzanev; Odimayo, Guthrie (c) (Licorish 86), Eyoma, McGowan (Baldwin 76), Guiness-Walker; Hondermarck (Dobson 76), McGeehan, Pinnock; Roberts (Chouchane 76), Eaves (Obiagwu 84)
Subs (not used): Dadge, Wyatt
Booked: McGeehan 35 (foul on Berry), Roberts 73 (foul on A.Mitchell)
Charlton: Maynard-Brewer; A.Mitchell, Jones, Gillesphey; Edwards, Berry (A.Campbell 81), Coventry (Edmonds-Green 85), Docherty (c) (Anderson 74), Small; Leaburn (Ahadme 74), T.Campbell (Hylton 74)
Subs (not used): Mannion, Godden
Goals: Docherty 9, 68, T.Campbell 13, Leaburn 36, Hylton 90
Assist: Leaburn 13, Berry 68, A.Mitchell
Booked: Docherty 40 (foul on McGeehan), A.Mitchell 50 (foul on Roberts), Maynard-Brewer 60 (delaying the restart)
Referee: Ben Toner
Attendance: 7,015 (1,186 from Charlton)