Sky Bet EFL Championship
Saturday 20 December 2025
The Valley, London
Charlton Athletic… 1
Oxford United… 0
Oxford United fell to a 1-0 defeat away to Charlton Athletic. A second half goal from Charlie Kelman with 12 minutes to play was enough for the hosts.
Brodie Spencer was back in the starting XI after a length spell through injury, with Mark Harris also in, replacing Hidde ter Avest and Will Lankshear.
The last time United visited this part of London was on New Year's Day 2024, when Oisin Smyth scored the goal of the season to earn a dramatic 2-1 win.
Three points was much desired again for Gary Rowett’s side, and they started brightly, putting plenty of pressure on the hosts inside the first 15 minutes.
The first chance came from Will Vaulks, who lashed a powerful shot from 30 yards just wide, with the keeper flying across his goal.
Nik Prelec then had the first shot on target on the 26th minute when he powerfully cut in from the right and ran down on goal, but his shot from the edge of the box was straight at the keeper.
Two minutes later, Charlton had their first shot on target, James Bree with the effort from a tight angle which forced Jamie Cumming into a good stop.
His best save came five minutes later, pulling off a wonderful close-range reaction stop from Tanto Olaofe who was racing down on goal. It was a huge stop from the Oxford number one, after the hosts carved the United defence for the first time in the game.
Both teams continued to have spells until the half, with the last chance coming with the last kick when Sonny Carey pulled a shot just wide from 18 yards out.
Ciaron Brown had a good opportunity at the start of the second period when he shot just wide in a promising position in the box, less than 10 yards from goal.
From there, Charlton came back with Rob Apter forcing Cumming into a strong save minutes later.
Tyreece Campbell came off the bench and narrowly missed with a decent strike on 73 minutes, but five minutes later his fellow substitute Kelman scored the winner with a shot just on the edge of the box.
United pushed to get back into the game, but couldn’t find the killer touch.
Charlton Athletic: Kaminski, Ramsay, Gillesphey, Jones, Coventry, Anderson, Olaofe, Bree, Apter
Subs: Mannion, Campbell, Berry, Docherty, Roussillon, Kelman, Rankin-Costello, Gough, Knibss
Oxford United: Cumming, Brown, Vaulks (Mills 81’), Helik, M. Harris (Lankshear 75’), Romeny (Goodrham 66’), De Keersmaecker, Spencer (Krastev 81’), Prelec (Placheta 76’), Leigh, Davies
Subs: Ingram, Long, L. Harris, Currie