Cort Onside

As suggested by Ketts earlier today Leon Cort has joined on a season long loan from Burnley. His brother Dean used to play for Bournemouth.

Hopefully we will be adding a striker to our numbers too in the next couple of days.

Addicks win despite being shorn of Wright-Phillips

A quickly taken Lowe fee kick saw Charlton shaken but stirred !

ANEM was sadly devoid of correspondents at Gigg Lane, finances being the main reason. In addition, our senior reporter, Clive, was unavailable. Therefore, we can only make observations from afar.

Obviously it was a lacklustre first half from the Addicks against a Bury side who had a tough midweek fixture. It was a game we ought to have won comfortably if we're honest even without BWP. However, the signs of a rousing teamtalk from Sir Chris and resulting positive response form the players augers well.

Lowe was clearly highlighted as the man to watch especially at set pieces so that we weren't alert to his free kick is disappointing.........one assumes that the management team focused on this during the week. However, we did get a reaction.

The goals were almost instant and well taken. It sounds like most players had good second halves if not the full ninety with Morrison and Solly stand outs. Hamer seems to have had a couple of dodgy moments but okay otherwise. Like most others he knows an able deputy is waiting in the wings.

We have got over any possible hangover from the previous Saturday with this and the Reading game. Indeed, Sir Chris seems to be endorsing products of the hangover variety as the OS headlines " Powell hails resolve ! ".

Many positives this week then as the Addicks have shown the second string can beat championship opponents, the main eleven demonstrate that we can win without our main goal scorer and we can come back from going behind. In addition, we didn't make negative substitutions when defending our lead late on. All good as clearly we are progressing and lessons are being learned !

Damn Sky have put paid to our Saturday next week and we have to wait until the following Monday for our football fix. Wednesday beat Scunny yesterday although it doesn't look very convincing. That the Iron had only just played on the Thursday was out of order I thought and why they weren't allowed to delay until at least today is beyond me.

The Owls are in action midweek in the paint pot trophy with a game away to Bradford. We have a bye and subsequently a break. Hopefully BWP will be restored to full health and everyone else will be fit. Maybe Elliot and Benson will have departed and one or two new faces will have arrived. Certainly one would like to see a new striker.

It was good to see Mambo on the bench yesterday. Like to see him stay there ahead of Doherty when the Doc is fit assuming no centre half arrives in the next few days.

The Shakers

 Bury are sponsored by a firm of estate agents and as such the end of season party is not to be missed.......all the movers and shakers are there.......

If one is looking for links to last week's oppo then there's a good one in the Shakers former manager Alan Knill. He must take a large slice of the credit for Bury's promotion last season. Mind you current boss, Richie Barker oversaw a terrific set of results at the end.

They've had a reasonable start to the league campaign with a loss, a draw and two wins, the most recent last Saturday away to fellow promotees ( ? ) Wycombe Wanderers. Ryan Lowe is most certainly the danger man, a prolific scorer who is in good form. He'll be dangerous from set pieces as well as open play. Jones will also be likely to pose a goal-scoring threat.

Hopefully the Shakers will be tired from Tuesday night's exertions against Leiceseter where they took a 2-1 lead before the Foxes came back to win 4-2. Unlike ourselves they didn't field an entirely different starting eleven to that of the previous league game.

They have got a touch of Parkinson's at the moment with 3 loan players although that of course falls someway short of Phil's efforts in that area ! Cullen is on loan form Hull, Oyenula from Spurs and this week Ashley Eastham was brought in from Blackpool.

Forming part of the defence is Efe Sodje, the bandana wearing brother of the family. Dare I say he's looked shaky ( sorry ) of late and hopefully we can exploit that.

Gigg Lane has a capacity of just under 12,000 but it's not likely that the crowd will approach anything like that even with the Addicks in opposition.

Another Bury sponsor is ( this is true unlike my previous sponsor reference which might not be ) is Frankie and Benny's, the restaurant chain. I'm thinking a little initiative could see ice cream flavours of stawbury, raspbury, blackbury etc. not to mention the milkshake(er)s....

Follow Tuesday night's magnificant Royal upset ( " we are not amused " ) Sir Chris has selection issues of the best kind. The game served to underline the squad's strength in depth and it's been somewhile since an Addicks manager had one like it. That they played in similar manner to the usual starting eleven is a real bonus. Genuine competition for places isn't something we've known for many a season.

However, for all that I'd probably only make one change from the usual starting league eleven and that is to bring in Green for Wagstaff . I can't see how he can be left out given the quality of his set pieces and crosses. Wagstaff is better coming on as a sub later in the game. In addition, Jackson isn't giving us genuine wing play on the other side. Both Saturday's goals came from balls from the left and he was in the middle to score the first and Hollands delivered the second. Don't get me wrong, Skip plays well but we do need genuine width hence the need for Green. 

Given the rest the players have had and if we can play as we have done for most of the season allied to more clinical finishing then we really ought to win this against a team that had a tough game in midweek.

Our number 8 hasn't been at his best for the last couple of games, however, hopefully he'll do well and if he does then the headlines will write themselves !

Come On You Reds !  

Reading Allowed

The Reading game finally goes ahead tonight

Folk have mixed views on whether we should aim to do well in this competition. My view is that if we were in the Championship and anticipating a mid-table finish then yes, we should go for it. However, given where we are I think we should treat it as a competitive friendly and give a few a run out. I'd rather we had fewer games to play and I'm not impressed that teams are seeded in this competition....totally wrong.

I like the Royals manager Brian McDermott and he's done well since being appointed last year although they've not had a great start to the season and their fans are pretty downbeat about tonight with many predicting a win for us. It's a tough one to call as I'd expect both sides to rest players.

They've sold Shane Long to West Brom and that's a big loss for them. They still have some good players though and ordinarily would be too strong for us. We'll see.

Here's hoping that Evina, Mambo, Hamer, Hughes, Euell, Bover, Cousins, Harriott, Green and Alonso (  is he fit ? ) all get a start. There were some tired looking players on Saturday..........not sure why so early in the season but clearly one or two need a night off.

Sir Chris should be busy in the transfer market before the window closes. If Benson goes we need another striker and clearly we need another centre back if we're not going to give Mambo a chance. These may be loan signings of course, whatever, some business will surely be done.

I'm not worried about losing tonight just hope all the players come through it unscathed with no bookings and those that've been outside the starting eleven play well.

Come On You Reds !

The Iron Show Their Mettle

The scoreline was as changable as the weather. A sunny Valley later saw the home team depart under something of a methaphorical dark cloud as 2 points were lost in the last quarter of the game.

To be fair a draw was the right result as Scunthorpe played their part in an entertaining game. They never sat back and were indeed unlucky to go behind. Up to that point I felt they'd had the greater possession if not threat. We probably didn't really deserve to extend the lead soon after the break either.

I felt that Scunny would prove difficult opposition and so they were. They were a tad physical at times and I think the ref should have dealt better with an assault on Hayes early on to set a marker but in all honesty they were far from the worst we've seen in tier 3. They played some good stuff at times and are probably a couple of players shy from giving themselves a good chance of going back up. Come the end of the season this may look quite a good point although I felt we really ought to have held on.

We did seem a little lacklustre today and never really got going. The slick one touch stuff of recent games wasn't there today and on occasions we were slow to close down too.

I'm still to be convinced about Skip playing on the left. He doesn't look or play like a winger, always tucking in and dropping too deep on occasion. On the other side Wagstaff did little in the first half and was often seen at right back. For me he didn't show at all in the second and should have been replaced by Green after no more than 10 minutes. Green in the short time he was on created several chances and delivered some quality crosses whilst displaying the aggression that Wagstaff clearly lacks.

Why Stephens came over to play keep ball in the corner to waste time when Green was waiting to deliver a corner I don't know. It was negative thinking and we need to be more postiive than that. The negative thinking was enhanced when Doherty came on for BWP. Sir Chris has done that twice at home now. His presence didn't prevent the second goal and again sent out the wrong message.

The result was when we needed a third goal there was only one stiker in Euell on the pitch. We should look to play to our strengths and not be so negative.

I remarked after the Colchester game that if we kept failing to take more of our chances it would in all likelihood come back to bite us on the bum sometime and today it did. I appreciate that their keeper made some good saves but we need to be more clinical.

However, I mustn't be too critical, to date we've played some good football that's pleasing on the eye and are still level on points at the top.

Perhaps there's greater reward in beating Reading on Tuesday than just getting into the 2nd round of the Carling Cup. A postponement of the MK Dons game doesn't look too bad a thing at the moment.

Tough As Iron

It won't be easy



Tomorrow sees us play The Iron. Silly and obvious references to a flat back four, they play a pressing game and they'll be hard to beat etc are avoided because as regular readers will know ANEM doesn't do that sort of thing.

It might seem that this should be a straight forward home win but I think The Iron will prove a tough nut to crack. Scunthorpe suffered their first defeat on Tuesday going down at home to a previously pointless Oldham. The match stats show that the home side were ahead on everything save for the goals. I know that matters most but they aren't to be taken lightly.

It appears they acquired two players during the clsoe season. Midfielder Jimmy Ryan arrived from Accrington and winger Andy Barcham signed from the Gills. Barcham along with Dagnall have both notched two goals each this season. They provide the main goal threat especially Dagnall who looks a good direct striker who'#s not afraid to run at the defence.

Scunny's manager, ex-Bury boss Alan Knill, feels the team is performing better away from home, let's home they don't tomorrow.

Injuries aside and the decision over Elliot in respect of his much touted move to Newcastle I assume the starting eleven and bench will be the same as Tuesday night. If Robbie does play he might find himself playing them again soon in different colours as United have been drawn against Newcastle in the Carling Cup. Newcastle may decide to blood young Robbie in that one.

The team is playing well and all are working hard for each other and we've seen in recent games that closing the oppo down quickly has foreced errors and we've capitalised on them with some degree of ruthlessness. I hope we can start converting more of the chances we create as we could easily have doubled our goals tally in the last two games.

Some things don't change.........Big Brother is back on our screens ( that even Channel 4 thought it had run its course says everything about Channel 5 really ! ), the Gallagher brothers are at eachother's throats but thankfully CAFC have changed......we're playing good football that's pleasing on the eye, we're winning and are top of the league. Long may that continue !

Come On You Reds !

London - Essex

The old argument from the excellent Monkey Dust - think London won that one last night

A superb Addicks display, certainly in the first half, made the inaugural ANEM trip to the Weston Homes Stadium a very pleasant and worthwhile experience. Even the weather played its part in making it a good evening.

We arrived early at just after 5pm as I'd been led to believe there were only 700 parking places available at the stadium. Oh how wrong that was ! If the entire crowd had driven in their own car I'm sure the car park could have accommodated them. When trying to get out after the game it seemd as if everyone had ! One big car park, one singular and small exit route !

All the Colchester staff encountered were friendly, pleasant and polite and further enhanced an enjoyable evening. Our support was excellent with everyone noisy and well behind the team. As far as I could tell no silly behaviour or songs either which was most welcome !

Plenty of time to kill but sadly nowhere to go other than the BP garage across the road and I'd have been Alan Partridge like in taking a trip over there almost for the sheer hell it. I did think of him as I tucked into my pre-match pasty bought at the ground, it was as Alan infamously said " hotter than the sun " and I burnt my hand as some of the contents went my way rather than anywhere else !

Pre-match entertainment mainly involved dodging the shots from our boys. Sullivan seemed most amused when one poor lady caught one smack on her bottom. She did well to laugh it off.......it must have hurt.

I've often thought that when announcing the line ups at the Valley we ought to show the oppo's players pictures.........the one of Matt Taylor last night showed precisely why we don't do that. It seemed he'd lost 3 stone, a foot in height and turned black !

The first half saw us play some lovely football, slick and for the most part at times one touch. The two goals were excellently taken and as Sir Chris observed on Saturday, it could have been more. That could will need to become should as it will cost us I'm sure in future games.

The pitch was ridiculously over-watered at half time.........a strange decision when your team keeps the ball off the grass most of the time. We seemed to allow the U's to keep the ball more for most of the time in the second period. BWP should have added more than one to his total and he will rue his under-hit lob. Euell was unlucky not to score late on as their keeper ( man of the match for the U's by the way ) made a fantastic save.  

I can't really fault anyone's performance. They all worked hard as well as looking to play a fast-moving passing game. The subs were about right although I felt Wagstaff faded in the second half and Green should have replaced him.

Elliot's booking for alleged time-wasting was a nonsense. No warnings and he wasn't anyway....sure he wasn't rushing but he wasn't excessively slow either. The ref will have the complete set of League One custodians if he continues in that vein !

Early days but all very encouraging. There will be tougher tests ahead not least when we have to cope with injuries and suspensions. However, at the moment it's good to be an Addicks fan and the team is a joy to watch.....did I really just write that !