Charlton Athletic 3-0 Derby County: Gallagher strike seals superb Addicks win
- Published
Charlton striker Macauley Bonne scored the opening goal at The Valley
Conor Gallagher's superb long-range strike capped off a complete performance for Charlton Athletic secured a comfortable win against Derby County.
The Addicks dominated the game throughout at The Valley, scoring two goals either side of half-time before on-loan midfielder Gallagher pinged his shot into the top corner from 25 yards.
Naby Sarr headed in from Josh Cullen's corner to double the host's lead after Macauley Bonne scored his third goal in four starts inside the first 10 minutes.
Bonne thumped the ball into the top left-hand corner after Sarr's chipped pass allowed Jonathan Williams to cut the ball back to the striker from the left hand side.
Williams continued to threaten the Rams defence with Bonne but was forced to depart in the first half because of injury.
Phillip Cocu's side had more possession, but only registered two shots on target.
Mason Bennett went through one-on-one but Charlton keeper Dillon Phillips denied a consolation goal with a superb save.
The win keeps Lee Bowyer's side a place below the play-off positions while Derby are 15th.
Charlton Athletic manager Lee Bowyer:
"We have never played that formation before. We tried it on Thursday for the first time. Everything we asked the players to do, they did.
"I thought we were a bit tentative in possession in the first half, but we moved the ball a lot better in the second half.
"It was probably our best all-round performance from start to finish of the season. For a team that was supposed to struggle, we are doing exceptionally well.
"Tactically I thought we were spot on. In and out of possession, I thought we were by far the better side. We scored three different types of goals and we could have scored more."
Derby County manager Phillip Cocu told BBC Radio Derby:
"They had more aggression, created more chances. We were a step too late in defence.
"We couldn't create any danger until the last apart of the game, 86 minutes with the chance of Mason Bennett, but then the game was played and over for us.
"It shows like there was a lack of adrenaline in the team. What we had before, we didn't have today."