When Andre Green arrived at the Valley, he will have represented a man who was presumably pretty frustrated by how his season had gone.
During his initial loan from Aston Villa to Preston North End, which was meant to last the season’s entirety, the forward only managed four substitute appearances in the league, which got him a combined 87 minutes.
Therefore, he will definitely be encouraged by the fact that in his first two Championship games as a Charlton player, the 21-year-old has made two starts, totalling 158 minutes – there was another start in the FA Cup.
All three of these games will have felt like big opportunities for him, considering how few he had prior to his second loan of the campaign.
However, his eyes surely will have been straying towards Saturday’s match against Preston, seeing him return to Deepdale, the home of that nightmare spell.
He never actually scored at the stadium while wearing white, as his only Preston goal came in a 4-0 Carabao Cup away win against Bradford City.
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With that in mind, it will have felt like an absolutely massive moment for the Charlton loanee when he got on the end of Alfie Doughty’s low cross, converting it into the back of the net.
The first goal for a new club is always going to feel monumental, but it could be seen from Green’s celebration that this felt like a weight was being lifted from his shoulders, as he sprinted off and slid on his knees while looking to the sky.
Even though the game ended in a loss, this should allow the versatile forward to move on from the disappointment of that spell – especially considering where the goal was scored.
Even more importantly was the timing from the team’s point of view. With Lyle Taylor and Macauley Bonne out injured, having Green score his first Charlton goal a week after Josh Davison did the same will be highly encouraging for Lee Bowyer.
Meanwhile, Charlton fans were reacted to a role reversal in the Preston game.