And In The Second Half They Rose Again.....

JJ inspired the Addicks comeback

With wonderful religious timing The Addicks rose from the dead yesterday. Another great man whose name starts with a J inspired his 10 disciples to turn around a two goal deficit. 

It was looking like a miserable Easter for one and all after 20 minutes as the Addicks insipid display led to thoughts of a proper mauling akin to Christians being fed to the lions ( apologies for that reference ). Skip almost single-handedly led the team back into the game with supreme effort and determination that was  perfectly encapsulated by his goal....he would not be denied !

The first half saw poor performances from almost every Charlton player save probably Skip, Harriott and Solly. Added to referee Kettle's impression of a chocolate teapot it was looking like another miserable Saturday afternoon.

Our boys didn't seem up for it in the opening 20 to 25 minutes and Sir Chris's decision to bring in Hamer, Hughes and Dervite appeared to be a decidedly bad one. The Trotters could have taken the lead earlier than they did as the woeful Ngog spurned a wonderful opportunity. Sordell later showed how it should be done as he turned Dervite inside out before slotting home. Hamer was not to blame for that but he'll be disappointed with the second as Kamara scored with an accurate but tame effort from some distance.

Realising that we really ought to be trying the lads responded and young Callum started to run at Bolton's defence and linked up well with Wiggins on several occasions. Fuller began to use his experience and nous to good effect and later following to strong run saw his cross / shot pass agonisingly close to the goal with no one on hand to provide the finishing touch

Half time and being a goal down with Hughes looking like he was going to lose it I felt he might need to be replaced at half time. Shades of Morrision from earlier in the season I feared, thankfully our prayers were answered in every way !

The second period saw Fuller come into his own and for his efforts, cunning and skill he deserved a goal yesterday. Ricardo has been much maligned by some of late. He remains a quality striker and all his guile delivered us the win yesterday. As ever he was being fouled constantly and got little protection from the ref. I understand he's battling through a shoulder injury too. 

Yann's wonderfully taken free kick hit the post and Dorian was on hand to dispatch the rebound. A couple of minutes after winning the free kick that saw Ricketts' dismissal Fuller won us a penalty after a mazy run into the box saw him upended. 

Yann confidently placed the ball on the spot for what I believe was his first competitive penalty since the infamous play-off final one. The ball was duly placed into the bottom right hand corner on the net. Very cool, very brave ! All video is to be sent to the King Power stadium........look at what you could have won !

The 7 minutes added on was torture as we're all aware of our propensity to concede late goals this season but in reality Bolton never really looked like scoring. The whinging Davies departed the scene before the final whistle and Knight got a yellow for his trouble as the Bolton entourage lost what little discipline they had.

The Trotters have some good players ( and one particularly bad one, Alonso was truly woeful ) but with their reliance on physical assault as opposed to trying to use the undoubted skills of players like Lee then the play offs will be beyond them unless they encounter some very lenient officials.

A good win then and the Easter eggs will taste all the better because of it. A glance at the other scores yesterday further underlines the importance of the victory. One more win seems essential and two more would make things pretty safe.

Brighton on Tuesday next up then. I'm not going much as I'd liked to as I'm in the midst of moving house and my focus needs to be on that. I'd recommend imbibing at the Gardeners Arms in Lewes for a lovely drop of Harvey's. The Gardeners is a bit like Solly, small with character and will always deliver. A trip to Lewes also gives you the chance to grab a view of the Dripping Pan, the home of Lewes FC.

Good luck to all those who are going and let's hope for another 3 points on the road.

Come On You Reds !

Swing Low, Sweet Harriott !

A training ground free kick on Saturday saw young Callum score his first senior goal for the Addicks. All credit to him. He merited another start after his second half display against Peterborough. His ball to set up Jackson for the first goal was sublime aside from all the other good things he did on the night.

Button's clean sheet on Saturday is most welcome especially as it seemed he could have done better with Posh's second goal. Button has deserved his chance and on Tuesday night I was impressed with his punching and catching. If he's coming for it, he's coming for it ! His distribution is also good. I don't think anyone's writing Hamer off, however, it's good to have some healthy competition amongst our keepers.

The four points from the away days at Peterborough and Huddersfield are most welcome if not essential. It will hopefully settle us down and renew the players collective confidence.

Yesterday's cup draw for that lot down the road is excellent news meaning as it does that they replay on Wednesday night. Here's to extra time, sendings off etc. If we can add in some delays on the motorway for their return journey, then all the better.

Another 3 points from Saturday's game will naturally be good for almost every reason. Sadly I'll not be there as I'm moving house next week ( an experience I don't recommend. The whole episode, from start to finish, has been a pain to put it mildly. I may need to go into more detail soon !! ) and I need every moment to complete the move of possessions into storage as I don't enter the new place until a couple of weeks after.

Yann is back available on Saturday and it seems entirely fitting that he should be. If he seeks atonement for his red card last time out at home then helping to put one over on them will do just fine !

Austintatious

Austin's moment of class settled an otherwise uninspiring game

Another Saturday, another home defeat. Thus, the seemingly natural order of things in maintained.

I sat in a different position in the East Stand yesterday among some very passionless supporters. Ok, you don't have to go mad but please don't criticise all and sundry whilst refusing to sing or cheer. My mood wasn't brightened by someone criticising Fuller for changing his boots. " He had 2 hours before the game to do that ! " Of course Fuller lacks the experience or wisdom of our friend in the stand. A particularly ironic comment to make when one thinks of Johnny Summers doing the same thing at half time against Huddersfield in 1957.......think we all know what happened next ! 

No point in dwelling on this one too much, we've all got better things to do ! We started with 3 forwards and were apparently flitting between 4-3-3 and 4-4-2. Obika was woeful and contributed little. For a second week running I'd have made subs after 15 mins having to admit that it wasn't working. 

At half time I felt sure that Sir Chris would acknowledge the lack of width and remove the aforementioned  Obika and Dervitte. It was frustrating watch Wiggins move forward with a huge area in front of him with no Charlton player there !

The boss made a few changes with Solly being an enforced one of course. Stephens hasn't been good of late as we know but there is a case of horses for courses and yesterday was one game in which he might have made a difference and flourished. We'll never know now and that he wasn't on the bench wasn't the wisest move either. You do need options. 

Last week we had 3 strikers on the bench, this week 3 wingers ! It just don't make no sense !

From last season's settled side we are now chopping and changing all the time and it doesn't seem to be helping. I've not lost faith in Sir Chris, he remains the man for me but he will need to look at the side and try to play a more settled team. Yesterday would have been good to start Harriot I felt and in addition, one of our younger strikers should have been given a go, from the bench at least.

Food for thought ahead of Peterborough on Tuesday. Perhaps Danny Hollands will come back into the reckoning ?

Yesterday wasn't a total waste as we meet 3 Burnley lads and a visiting Leeds fan on the way and met up for a beer after in Greenwich. It was as it should be and we chewed the fat over many football related matters. 

Let's hope we can garner at least 4 points form the next two games as that will go a long way to calming out collective nerves.

Last Saturday ? Forgotten All About it !

" Get back you bastard, I'll break your legs ! "

It'll be a case of beauty and the beast on the touchline on Saturday as Sir Chris meets Sean Dyche. Sean has the appearance of a man who'd happily punch if you so much as look at him....all those years at Millwall I guess.

So Burnley come a calling and I've read ( on Wikipedia so it must be true ) that the club colours of claret and blue were adopted in 1910 in tribute to the dominant club of English football Aston Villa in the same way as Man Utd adopted red and white in tribute to us.

Burnley are on a bad run and lost to a poor Huddersfield team on Tuesday evening. Sean was angry after that one, glad I wasn't there to see that ! Mr Dyche has offered to make wholesale changes in an attempt to reverse the club's fortunes...........us away is probably ideal for them then !

Jamaican Dane Richards made his league debut as he replaced Dean Marney on 15 minutes in midweek only to produce such a poor display that he was himself replaced on the hour mark.......oh dear ! Shades of Carlton Cole on the final day a few years ago against Sunderland unless I'm mistaken.

Charlie Austin poses a real goal threat and is the second highest scorer in the league. Hopefully he won't get into gear and he'll himself in a footballing cul-de-sac.

The Clarets go from Turf Moor to turf poor and it to be hoped that our pitch is in better fettle than it has been of late. The same of course could be said of our home form, we desperately need an uplifting display as it's been very disappointing fayre this season at the Valley. So much so in fact that even I'm going to Peterborough on Tuesday evening in an attempt to see what the fuss is all about !

I wish I could tell you what the team and formation will be on Saturday but hell, only Sir Chris knows that and it's foolish to try and second guess him after we witnessed Wagstaff up front last time out.

Last weekend I hoped for a great game with two sets of player playing some quality football. In the end of course it was awful and the weather was sh...... not great ! 

Therefore, I anticipate a dire ( Alex ? ) game from two teams that are in terrible form and played in really low temperatures with driving rain. There, that should do it !

Come On You Reds !

We've had better days......



In contrast to the previous home game, Yann made sure he wasn't the last player to leave the pitch. In fact he left the remaining 21 players positively trailing in his wake !

The incident occured right in front of me and the sending off seemed ludicrous and over the top. When watching later at home I relaised it was the correct decision. It was wrong that Halford escaped scott free and his late booking should have been accompanied by a red for a second yellow.

The ramifications of Yann's dismissal did not manifest themselves in this game as we'd have lost anyway one feels. The effects will be felt in the upcoming 3 games when our French talisman is not available for selection.

I had been anticipating a good game of football on Saturday morning but the way we set up and our subsequent approach ruled that out almost immediately. Clearly if we were going to change things at home we needed to be positive against an attacking Forest side. Seemingly we were 4-4-2 but what on earth did we hope to get from Wagstaff being one of the two ! I believe that Yann was as frustrated as the rest of us and was probably one reason why he was wound up.

Sir Chris should have acknowledged the mistake after 10 to 15 mins, held his hands up and withdrawn either Stepehens or Wagstaff. I couldn't believe that we didn't change things even after Yann had gone. Leaving Wagstaff up there to see out the rest of the half defied logic as well as belief. He wasn't winning anything or creating any problems when Yann was with him, on his own there was no chance !

How good it would have been to be able to have Hulse come on in those circumstances. He would have been ideal.

The changes at half time should have seen Wagstaff and Stephens replaced by Fuller and Haynes with the latter playing wide right. His energy would have seen him get up and down with pace enough to get up to suppport attacks.

I'd love to know what the thinking was behind our formation and the players selected. Off the pitch it was every bit as confusing, we had 3 forwards on the bench ! Was that the plan B then ? We were going to go 4-3-3 or something ? That's about as believable as the declared attendance.

That so few players came away with any credit made the whole day deeply depressing. The weather did nothing to help and it was an awful day all round. Only Forest's passing and movement made it worthwhile. Andy Reid was superb as we always knew he would be.

I'm not sure that Hamer can survive into the next game. He has been good for most of the season and made some top drawer saves, however, his mistakes of late have proved costly. It doesn't do any player any harm to drop down now and again when they're not at their best. No one should be taking their place for granted or not feel under any pressure.

Home again next Saturday then and let's hope that we will witness better fayre than that. Sales of Findus lasagne is likely to be higher than those of our season tickets at present. 

   

Reid All About It !

Andy as we'd like to remember him best, in the red of Charlton

Tomorrow sees Andy Reid return to once more grace The Valley turf. That's worth the entrance fee alone. His absence for a large part of our relegation season along with that of Darren Bent were a large part of the reason for our downfall. I was very sorry to see him go. Years later he remains a class act as his goal last Saturday clearly demonstrates.

Following our win over Leicester on Tuesday I said I expected that Forest would come and play attacking football. One person commented that given Forest's 6 goals against Huddersfield on the same night that this was a fair assumption. Fair comment and made me smile, however, I was wondering whether they would adopt such an attacking approach away from home. I know that under Sean O'Drsicoll this would have been the case but Davies has yet to oversee an away game in his latest spell in charge and that remains unclear. 

Given the players at his disposal it's difficult to envisage Davies being negative. In addition to Reid, Radoslaw Majewski is another skillful player who should be a joy to watch. He bagged a hat-trick against Huddersfield  and so comes full of confidence which I believe is fundamental to his game.

Henri Lansbury and Lewis McGugan ( probably off the bench ) provide other attacking options and will also be worth seeing.

We will need to nullify their midfield and are capable of doing so. We'll need to stifle the creativity which could be achieved by closing down quickly and giving them little room. 

Billy Davies as stated above has returned to Forest. Not so long ago he could have been sitting in the home dugout but that never materialised. One assumes that Billy will be able to find his way to S.E. 7 tomorrow and keep this particular appointment.

The Forest owners have hardly endeared themselves to the fans. Sacking Sean O'Discroll was crass in the extreme, this was followed up by appointing Alex McLeish and then declaring that potential signing George Boyd had an eyesight problem ! Not many Championship defences let alone opticians agree with that ! Fortunately Boyd has now joined up with Hull and so we won't face him on Tuesday week !

The appointment of Davies is the one sensible decision the owners have made as Forest seems to bring the best out of him and he out of Forest.

Our 2-1 win over Leicester was a terrific performance with 2 quality goals from us. Very few saw that coming. The lads should approach tomorrow's game with increased confidence as a result. I'm optimistic of a really good game, let's hope I'm right.

I trust that Fuller will be restored to the team. He is a truly class player and probably best used by playing once a week. In any case we should look to go 4-4-2 at home. Yann really ought to retain his place. Danny Haynes will probably feel he deserves a start and it's hard to argue against that other than he does seem to do best when he comes off the bench when he can use his pace to exploit a tiring defence.

The return of Wiggins is tempered by the fact that it's at the expense of Evina. Ceddy has been superb since getting a run in the team. Had he been selected earlier in the season he would have finished the season playing in about 75% of the games.

Plenty to look forward to tomorrow then with some good players on both sides that hopefully bring some good football in return.We need to be positive throughout, concentrate throughout and make good use of the subs.......throughout. If we do that then we give ourselves a splendid opportunity of taking the 3 points.

Come On You Reds !

   

A Tail of Two Cities

Yann and Danny go to Leicester.........Boom ! Boom !

At least Basil's one fox who's still smiling. The Fox's tail got tweaked last night as we gave them the brush off ! Good idea to give Yann almighty stick, remember how it served Leicester so well last time at the Valley ! On some of their forums their fans were even grudgingly forced to admit that he might not be too bad a player.

Few saw that result coming and after the criticism that Sir Chris has had from me and many others regarding subs, I'm pleased to say he got it spot on last night. After Leicester pulled level the decision to put Haynes on was positive and brought an instant return.

Moreover, Sir Chris got the set up of the team spot on as he reverted to the 4-5-1 that has served us so well away this season. Clearly our formation against the other City, Hull wasn't so successful and the great man gave some thought to that and also the personnel.

All credit then to the management team and the players for what is seemingly a wonderful performance and response to end the recent poor run that we've been in. As has been highlighted elsewhere our consistency or lack of it has been our downfall this term. The late goals have been an issue of course and even the most positive Addick would have been fearing another one of those as we entered the closing stages. However, it was not to be.

I understand that Sir Chris received a round of applause from the Leicester fans after the game to show that they're not totally blinkered and do at least recognise a decent manager ( and human being ).

We can now look forward to Saturday even more. I assume that Mr Powell will revert to 4-4-2 as we seek a rare Saturday home win. I assume Forest will look to play attacking football and hopes are high for a good game with some nice football.

In the meantime let's bask in the glory of a double over a good Leicester side. Mr Dickens couldn't have scripted a latter-day version of his classic novel better himself with Yann and Danny representing the cities of Paris and London.

C'est magnifique !