Charlton Athletic and Queens Park Rangers played out a goalless draw in the Championship on Wednesday evening. The match ended level at 0:0 after ninety minutes of play at The Valley. Both sides arrived with losses behind them, Charlton having fallen 0:4 to Stoke City and QPR losing 0:1 to Middlesbrough.
The first half produced two substitutions as both managers made changes. Tariq Lamptey was replaced by sonny carey in the thirty-sixth minute, then Miles Leaburn came on for Charlton at the break. Julien Stéphan picked up a yellow card just before half-time, the first booking of the evening.
And here's the thing — you could see where this was heading. QPR controlled 72 per cent of possession and threw 138 attacks at Charlton's back line, yet they struggled to find a rhythm. Charlton defended compactly, making 36 clearances and winning 14 aerial duels out of 25. The visitors registered two shots on target but neither threatened the goal.
The second half brought more movement. Jimmy Dunne came on in the forty-eighth minute, and Charlton made three changes around the seventy-ninth minute — Kealey Adamson, Paul Smyth and Alfie Lloyd all replaced teammates. Adamson and Jake Clarke-Salter both received yellow cards before Oliver Skipp was brought on late on.
To be fair, the statistics tell the story of a match decided by margins. QPR completed 656 passes compared to Charlton's 252, and their expected goals figure of 0.73 was higher than Charlton's 0.6. But shots accuracy for the visitors stood at just 0.13, and neither team created anything resembling a big chance beyond the one each managed.
The result keeps both sides within touching distance at the top of the table. Charlton remain fifth with eleven points from six games, while QPR sit fourth on the same tally. Neither side extended a winning run, but both avoided defeat after their previous losses.
