Wham ! Bam ! Thank You Kassam !

" We've got more stands than you ! "

Charlton duly completed what in the end was a fairly routine win over a disappointing Oxford side. The game was played out in front of a very small crowd ( although there was a reasonably healthy turn out of @ 450 Addicks ) which was reflective of both the diminishing appeal of the cup and the U's ridiculous pricing policy. Saturday's prices at Huddersfield are more realistic.

Charlton took to the field last night in driving rain and bizarrely, red shorts ! What was that all about ? I couldn't see any reason why we weren't wearing our normal red and white kit.

The first 25 to 30 minutes was shocking with poor passing and control allied to no cutting edge. Having missed the terrible performance in the home tie ( not out of choice by the way ) I was questioning why I was so keen to see this one at nearly twice the price !

It all seemed to change when Sir Chris inverted the wingers which he seems to love doing. I don't hold with it myself and believe that wingers should play in their natural positions. Anyway, it worked last night.

To be fair to Church ( I'm not his biggest fan ) he played his part in two of the goals. Equally Jackson kept going all night and worked really hard and was full of running. Evina was very rusty which is a polite way of saying not great. Keep your fingers crossed that he plays an awful lot better in the forthcoming games in Wiggins' absence.    

Kermogant had a good game which was nicely rounded off by a typically delicious and accurate free kick. 

Oxford posed little threat throughout and it was a shame that Chris didn't choose to give a debut to Poyet earlier than he did. Bringing on Pritchard was baffling, coming on as he did on the left side of midfield, even more so. That was the time that young Poyet should have come on.

Lennon should have come on too as there was no risk at all in doing so. What was to lose ? Cousins made his debut in the league cup remember and we've not looked back since. The youngsters need to be encouraged.

At the end it was rather sad that Skip had to call most of the team over to clap the fans. 

On to the fourth round then for yet another cup tie against Huddersfield. For me, this is a game where we should rest key players ahead of Tuesday's game which is of overriding significance. We really do need to firing on all cylinders against Donny. Dropping into the bottom three would be a serious psychological blow. 

Whatever the result on Saturday, Tuesday's is the one that should concern us most.

In the meantime we can look forward to tomorrow's interview with Roland, Katrien and Richard. Of course those of us who don't believe that we should have to pay for information about the club via CAFC Player will have to hope that it is put on Youtube or that someone has posted a transcript somewhere. 

It'll be interesting to hear what's said, I hope there's some positive news but I'm not convinced that we'll like a lot of what we hear. Let's wait and see.