Charlton Athletic U18s central defender Mo Buhari spoke to Valley Gold for Academy Notes after the recent 1-0 win over local rivals Millwall.
The local boy from New Eltham has been at Charlton’s Academy since he was an U14 and says in his fifth season it’s a pleasure to play for his local club. Speaking to Valley Gold on the away victory, he said:
“Before kick-off, we knew we had to start the game on the front foot and start the game strong to have a chance of winning this football match. Knowing how Millwall like to play, we had to match their desire and hunger and better it which we did. We were first to every ball and tried to get in and around second balls to go and hit them on the counter-attack.”
“Collectively we had flashes of good play to create goal-scoring opportunities. However, we didn’t work Millwall’s goalkeeper enough in the first half. We got most of our joy from wide areas, with our full-backs Freddy Barton and Kai Garande putting dangerous balls into the box, but none of our players were able to get on the end of them to score.”
“The scores were level at half-time, but going back to the changing room we knew we were the better team and a goal was going to come soon.”
“Moving into the second half, Millwall started the game strongly and we were second best in the opening ten minutes, but we grew into the game.”
“We got the ball down and started passing it more and imposing our style of play. As one, the team started to get into dangerous areas and we looked more of a threat. We pinned Millwall in their half and didn’t give them a chance to get out. In the 74th minute, Terrell Agyemang’s and Richard Afrane-Kesey’s excellent one-two play around the box was too quick for Millwall’s defenders resulting in their left-back taking Richard Afrane-Kesey down and the referee pointing to the spot. Aaron Henry stepped up for us and took the penalty. He calmly placed the ball down the middle of the goal giving Charlton the lead.”
“After we had scored we didn’t take the foot of the gas. We carried on playing with the same intensity, with the game finishing 1-0 to Charlton.”
“We are now 3rd in the League and two points off the current leaders, Millwall.”
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