Charlton Athletic made no mistake with their second chance in The FA Cup by seeing off Oxford United in the Third Round’s final tie to set up a trip to Huddersfield Town on Saturday.
Chris Powell’s side had found themselves 2-0 down at half time in the first game against their League Two opponents at the Valley seven days ago.
But a rousing second-half display earned a replay at the Kassam Stadium and the Championship side showed their quality to brush aside Oxford thanks to two goals from Yann Kermogant, either side of a Danny Green goal.
Oxford Utd 0-3 Charlton Athletic
The FA Cup with Budweiser
Third Round Proper replay
7.45pm, Tuesday 21 January
Kassam Stadium
Winners receive £67,500
They had to earn the right to play first though, in what was a slow and attritional start to the game with little between the sides and even less action for either goalkeeper in the first 30 minutes.
Oxford’s Scott Davies came closest to making any sort of mark on the game, but he headed wide of the post from David Hunt’s cross from the right.
An opening goal still seemed unlikely as half time approached, but the deadlock was broken in the 38th minute, when a long ball from the back was expertly dealt with by Simon Church. He controlled superbly inside the box, before laying the ball off to Kermogant, whose low left-footer had just enough power to beat keeper Ryan Clarke.
The visitors doubled their lead two minutes later, when Church did well again to break clear into the area. The Welshman drew Clarke off his line, before unselfishly slipping the ball to Green who was left with a simple tap-in from close range.
Given what we had seen in the first tie, there was still lingering hope of a comeback for Oxford as they made a spirited start to the second half.
Kermogant celebrates his goal against Oxford.
But the game was settled just shy of the hour mark when Kermogant scored his second of the night with a fine free-kick from 25 yards. Clarke was left scrambling as the Frenchman’s left-footed shot nestled into the top corner.
With Powell’s attention by now switched to Saturday’s Fourth Round tie, he quickly made changes, undoubtedly with the Huddersfield game in mind.
That gave the visiting fans a chance to see a Charlton debut for young midfielder Diego Poyet, son of Sunderland boss Gus and a former England U17s captain.
And with Championship opponents waiting for them at the weekend, Powell will now be hopeful of putting together a Cup run to help galvanise his team’s league form.
Oxford United: 1 Ryan Clarke, 3 Tom Newey, 4 Michael Raynes, 6 Jake Wright (c), 7 Sean Rigg (, 35 Callum O’Dowda, 80), 9 James Constable (20 Tyrone Marsh, 80) 10 Deane Smalley, 13 David Hunt, 18 Scott Davies, 19 Johnny Mullins, 37 Josh Ruffles.
Substitutes not used: 17 Danny Rose, 30 Sam Long, 32 David Lynn, 33 Josh Shama, 34 Matt Bevans.
Manager: Chris Wilder.
Charlton Athletic: 13 Ben Alnwick, 3 Cedric Evina, 4 Johnnie Jackson (c), 5 Michael Morrison, 6 Dorina Dervite-Vassoue, 7 Danny Green, 8 Dale Stephens (39 Diego Poyet, 83), 9 Simon Church, 11 Callum Harriott (14 Bradley Pritchard, 68), 18 Yann Kermogant (10 Marvin Sordell, 76), 23 Lawrie Wilson.
Substitutes not used: 13 Dillon Phillips, 15 Richard Wood, 31 Harry Lennon, 35 Joe Pigott.
Manager: Chris Powell.
Goals: Yann Kermogant (35, 58), Danny Green (38),
Referee: David Coote.
Attendance: 3225
