The Wembley action doesn’t stop here – the League Two playoff final takes place tomorrow, with Walsall meeting AFC Wimbledon.
Charlton Athletic v Leyton Orient: League One playoff final – live | League One
Published: 2025-05-25 14:04:52 | Views: 20
Key events
Our very own Stuart Goodwin writes in:
A quick wave to my O’s-supporting dad-in-law Ian Simpson, whose plans to be at Wembley today were scuppered by a dramatically malfunctioning pancreas, alongside an impressive bedside clipboard of other ailments. He has, I’m assured, been sorted out with a login and device to watch the game from his bed on the ward of Norwich General.
If there’s a turnaround in the current score, he’ll be able to recuperate next season with straightforward trundles from his North Norfolk retirement fungalow to aways at Roads Carrow and Portman.
He’d have enjoyed the sight of a couple of early-at-it fellow fans getting completely flummoxed by and entertainingly furious at a window in King’s Cross station circa 10.15am today, loudly bollocking it for not being an automatic sliding door. They were doing it for a lot longer than anyone might think possible, too.
HALF-TIME: Charlton 1-0 Leyton Orient
It’s not been pretty but this game isn’t about aesthetics; Charlton are a clean 45 away from the Championship.
45+2 min We have two minutes added on … Small does brilliantly to dance down the right wing and cut in. He plays a heavy reverse pass but Godden keeps it in to cut back a ball into the middle … but there’s no Charlton shirt present to get on the end of it.
45 min Campbell shows his strength to hold off Beckles before Gilbert finishes the Charlton move with a shot from the edge of the box … it curls high and over the bar.
44 min Orient are starting to pile the pressure going forward, with Currie advancing down the left while Galbraith does his playmaking on the right.
41 min Donley heads down a long ball before Agyei, cutting in from the right, has his shot blocked out for a corner … Edmonds-Green gets a head on it but can’t generate any power at the far post.
39 min Campbell tricks his way down the left and tries a cute dinked cross with his right boot but the ball finds the keeper, not Godden in the middle.
38 min Charlton’s supporters are in good voice now.
37 min Agyei tries to cross from the right but is crowded out and forced to recycle the ball. He does eventually get the cross in … but it’s far too deep.
36 min Godden skips down the right and lofts a heavy cross but it’s miles away from Campbell, the only red shirt in the box.
33 min The replays keep on coming and it’ll be tough to watch back for Keeley. There wasn’t any serious height on the free-kick, Gillesphey doing a fine job of finding the curl.
GOAL! Charlton 1-0 Leyton Orient (Gillesphey 31)
Gilbert, on loan from Middlesborough, and Gillesphey stand over it. It’s the latter who shoots … and scores! It’s a bit of left-footed magic, curled around the wall – it seems like the goalkeeper got the setup of it wrong. One half of Wembley erupts and Charlton, who have been the nervier of the two sides, have the lead.
29 min Campbell comes alive to win a free-kick just outside the D. Here’s a proper chance for Charlton …
28 min Galbraith does really well to loft the ball over a Charlton shirt and get Orient moving down the right but Agyei overhits a cross.
26 min Orient look the more composed team but neither side has created any real chances.
25 min Currie does well again to track the run of Small on Charlton’s right as Gilbert tries to play in his teammate.
24 min Charlton have a free-kick out on the left but it’s wasted as Gillesphey tries to sneak a low pass into the left channel – it’s overhit and sent out for a goalkick.
22 min Galbraith is getting on the ball and doing the dirty work, too; he does well to stop Campbell driving forward.
21 min Galbraith has space to drift inside the right channel with Charlton vacating a lot of room in midfield.
19 min Ramsay pulls off a fine block inside the Charlton area as O’Neill – who has been lively – launches.
18 min Charlton have a free-kick from way out; Gilbert launches it into the box but Orient clear away for a throw. Beckles has been rock-solid so far at the back.
17 min Beckles brings down Campbell by the edge of the area but the ref waves play on.
16 min Gilbert tries to play in Small on the Charlton right wing, but Currie tracks the run to halt the danger.
15 min It’s all a bit hectic in midfield at the moment, no one willing to just keep the ball on the carpet for a bit.
13 min O’Neill has space down the left and the ball is shifted to the other wing as Galbraith attacks … his cross doesn’t find anyone though.
12 min Docherty thinks he’s earned a corner for Charlton but Clare is the winner of the battle by the corner flag, the result an Orient goalkick.
11 min An Orient long throw produces a corner … but Mannion has control of the mixer, collecting cleanly to get Charlton moving on the counter.
9 min O’Neill sees the pitch open up in front of him after he picks up in midfield, driving towards the edge of the area before Jones gets in the way.
8 min Edwards crosses from the left, looking for Godden, but the loopy ball is knocked away. It’s Charlton who are seeing more of the ball at present.
6 min Beckles clears away in his area and Charlton have a throw from the left that they’ll send long … it’s worked around the area before Coventry whips in a cross from the right that is eventually dealt with.
5 min Donley whips the ball in to the box but can’t get it deep enough to cause bother.
4 min Jones takes down Agyei near the halfway line, the Orient No 7 showing quick feet to win the free-kick.
3 min Galbraith launches a long throw down the right wing, the Orient man who began his career at Manchester United.
1 min The ball gets hoofed around before Keeley goes long with an Orient goalkick.
Peeeeeep!
The anthems and handshakes are done. Charlton are in red, Orient in grey. Let’s play!
A very important note before kick-off, sent in by my close friend and Charlton supporter Ella Burrows. Tyreece Campbell’s full name is Tyreece Anthony Tupac Shakur Campbell. Amazing.
Worth a quick watch before we get going. Wembley is painted red.
This game’s been billed a bit as a contest between two strikers. In one corner, there’s Charlton’s Matty Godden, 33, with 22 goals this season. In the other, Charlie Kelman, 10 years younger, on loan from QPR and with 27 goals this campaign.
Kelman was here as a boy to watch West Ham win the Championship playoff against Blackpool in 2012. Kudos if you can name the goalscorers that day.
This is a lovely interview with Martin Ling, Orient’s director of football.
Charlton were victors in both league encounters with Orient; two injury-time goals secured a comeback win when the Addicks were visitors in March. Both goals came from corners, with Macaulay Gillesphey and Kayne Ramsay heading in, so it’ll be worth keeping an eye on Charlton’s set-pieces today.
What Orient can take confidence from is their shootout record this season; in addition to their playoff win over Stockport County, they won on penalties in the FA Cup twice to reach the fourth round.
The teams
Both sides are unchanged from their playoff semi second-leg wins.
Charlton: Mannion, Ramsay, Jones, Gillesphey, Small, Coventry, Gilbert, Docherty, Edwards, Godden, Campbell
Subs: Maynard-Brewer, Mitchell, Watson, Anderson, Berry, Aneke, Mbick
Leyton Orient: Keeley, Galbraith, Beckles, Edmonds-Green, Currie, Agyei, Brown, Donley, Clare, O’Neill, Kelman
Subs: Phillips, James, Happe, Williams, Ball, Markanday, Abdulai
“That was the music I was brought up on. My dad loved Eric Clapton, Queen, Michael Jackson, so I was educated from there. I grew up in the 80s, probably the best era for bands and I caught the tail end of the Haçienda and indie era, which led into the 90s. I used to do a bit of DJing when I was a kid, when I was [a player] at Brighton, house music. I wasn’t any good but I had my decks and I love my music.”
Ben Fisher and Nathan Jones talked football, too.
Preamble
Wembley makes sense for this one. It’s an hour-long trip across town for Leyton Orient and Charlton, both sides hoping for the Championship to be their final destination.
For the Addicks, promotion would end a five-year absence from the second tier, too long for a club that was once part of the Premier League establishment. Half a decade is nothing for the O’s; they’ve been absent from the division for 43 years, tasting the National League experience as recently as 2019.
Nathan Jones is the man leading Charlton, fresh off his Shawshank impression in the semi-final win over Wycombe, responsible for revitalising a side that were three points above the relegation zone when he took over last February. Richie Wellens, three years into the job at Orient, is gunning for a second promotion after they won League Two in 2023.
Charlton finished fourth this season, Orient sixth but with six wins on the bounce. In other words, it’s going to be a tight one. Kick-off’s at 1.01pm BST.
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