A Game Of Two Halves

C'est Magnifique !

 

I'm pleased to say that yesterday's game was one of total contrast in the two periods. Thank God for that because myself, Daniel and Alex missed the entire first half. Some idiot of a lorry driver failed to properly secure his load of chemicals which ended up all over the M25 @ 5am Saturday morning. I didn't know that and thus ended up trying to come off at Junction 25, not a good idea !

 

The expected 75 minutes journey took 4 hours ! It proved to be a test of my bladder's endurance as much as mine. The aforementioned lorry driver is due in court on Tuesday and if he is as gulity as it seems then I hope he is severly dealt with !

 

A couple of minutes on the East Stand concourse and I met up with Ketts who told me just how bad the first half had been. My mood improved a bit on hearing that and I was in a small minority of Addicks who were pleased that it was a dire 45 minutes.

 

Obviously news of our horrific journey reached Sir Chris and I understand his half time team talk was " Phil, Daniel and Alex have had a s**t journey down today, let's go out and make them happy ! "......................or words to that effect.

 

Whatever the boss said worked and we were served up another 4-1 home win on the final day of the season. Yann scored one of, if not the goal of the season following a superb cross from Gower. The finish was exquisite. Thins got even better when Solly showed us just how good his left foot is in sending one over for Yann to power home with his head.

 

A mistake from Morrison in failing to clear the ball saw City pull one back with Button injurying himself in the process. The injury was sufficient to force Button leave the field of play and see young Pope make his debut.

 

I'd love to be able to write about our Gallic hero's hat-trick but sadly he was denied by the width of a crossbar. His wonderful chip ( frite ? ) beat the keeper all end up but sadly not the bar, fortunately Obika was on hand to nod in the rebound.

 

Skip added a fourth soon after and the carnival atmosphere reached a crescendo with Sir Chris himself at one stage leading some of the comunity singing !

 

There was time for Wagstaff to have a cameo and bid goodbye to the fans. He has never been one of my favourite players seemingly lacking in strength and the ability to take on and beat defenders but I would never question his endeavour and will to win. I wish him all the best in finding a new club.

 

After an unconvincing start Obika is starting to grow on me. His late goals have proved crucial and his second half performance yesterday offered enough to suggest that he could flourish at The Valley next season. Let's hope we can secure his services.

 

I also hope we will see Fuller return. I find it incredible that some don't rate him. He has tons of nous, skill and experience and has been integral to most of the success this term. All that has been achieved whilst not been fully fit. I feel we'll need him next season and he will again prove to be a vital cog in the Charlton machine.

 

I'm not sure about Gower. As I said his cross for Yann's first was excellent and aside from that he did ok and that's the issue....he did ok. Against the poorest side in the league he just did ok. Perhaps it was an end of season issue. His pedigree suggests he should be a good acquisition for us with plenty to offer, if he stays then I hope he shows us that.

 

The last word is, as it should be, with the great man himself. His emotion filled voice told you everything you need to know about this wonderful man. He is Charlton through and through. He knows us better than we know ourselves, he's been through the ups and downs and above all he knows what it means to be a Charlton fan for he clearly is one himself.

 

I'm so glad he became our manager when he did and bear in mind that it nearly didn't happen and had Howe said yes, how different things might be. Had we not got Sir Chris then I've little doubt he'd be working some miracles elsewhere at another club with another set of adoring fans.

 

Some have observed that he bought himself some time and good will from the fans given his already legendary status. I've never bought into that view myself, in any case all of that would have evaporated by now if he wasn't upto the job. Last season and perhaps, even more so this he has proved himself more than capable.

 

He is intelligent and a quick learner but what sets him apart from the rest is his integrity and respect for others with a desire to treat all people equally. He knows how to manage players and treat people which has helped forge a group of players into a team with focus and vision.

 

Let's celebrate and reflect on what has been, in the end, a remarkable season. We can look forward to the next one if Powell is supported by the board and allowed to bring in the players he wants. One thing is clear, he won't lack support from the fans !

 

Come On You Reds !

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meat Head

The Middlesbrough manager is seemingly incapable of intelligent post-match comment and so ANEM sought the views of another Mowbray ( pictured above ). We found him altogether more intelligent and with a higher IQ.  Melton told us that looking at the form guide and the league table there was little realistic expectation of Boro beating the Addicks on Saturday.

Being a club of similar, if indeed not smaller, size to Charlton serves only to emphasis this line of reasoning says our porky pal. Melton does have some sympathy with the other Mowbray's comments because, in keeping with our porcine theme, he believes they may have been driven by a desire to save his own bacon following a terrible run of form, performances and results.

Our thanks to Melton, we'll leave it there and look forward to Tony's next visit to The Valley when he brings another massive side to play our little club.

After rushing into a two goal lead On Saturday thoughts turned to a possible repeat of Barnsley but sadly two late Boro goals saw us leave with only a share of the points. Fuller's effort looked onside but hey ho, them's the breaks.

Our away form this season has been terrific and has been due reward to all those who regularly make the effort. Of course, these last two seasons have been good to follow our boys on the road.

Next season we'll have a few more local teams to visit and I sincerely hope that Brentford will be one of them. A proper football stadium with some nice local pubs which all in all makes for a wonderful day out, particularly if we win. Aside from that the Bees were desperately unlucky not to go up automatically.

I'd have been happy this season if we'd finished one position above the relegation places in view of the lack of anticipated spend resulting in Sir Chris not getting the players he had clearly earmarked for this term. To finish where we will is a truly remarkable effort and a wonderful testament to Sir Chris and his team.

Make no mistake, Mr Powell is a very good manager with the potential to be a truly great one. Time will tell of course and we have to hope that he realises that promise with us. We will do well to hold onto him. I'm not overlooking the times that Powell has made mistakes especially regarding the use of subs but he does seem to have learned that lesson amongst several others.

The return of Hughes to the side has seen an astonishing upturn in the team's performances and results. Like many others I find it hard to put my finger on exactly what it is that he does. I do know that he possesses superb positional sense and his cover of the back four has allowed Skip ( Jackson ) to get forward and that has brought about more goals for him allied to a greater overall attacking threat.

On Saturday, I think we should look to celebrate almost as much as we did on the final day of last season. I feel that this campaign's efforts merit that. There is so much promise for the future as we've seen by the success of the Under 18's and Under 21's. Surely more of them will progress to the first team than we've seen of late. Home grown players lift the fans so much as demonstrated by how much we've all enjoyed seeing Harriott flourish this season.

If we can another two or three players of genuine quality and experience then we can a good go at the play-offs at least.

Tonight Millwall play Palace. That should be fun ! It's a no lose situation for us because we can take something every possible result. I hope Millwall lose because I'd love to see them go down. I don't seriously think that will happen but one can dream. I would say to any Spanners, if you do go down there's little you can do and there's no point in beating yourselves up about it, of course however, you already have !

 

Mike Denness

Mike Denness holding another trophy after skippering the Kent side to more glory !

Today sadly saw the passing of Mike Denness. A superb cricketer and gentleman. I'm so very glad that I was able to thank him personally for all the joy he brought me when watching him play and captaining Kent to so many titles and trophies during that golden age of the 70's.

He kindly signed a copy of his book, I Declare, for me a couple of years ago. I must read that again.

Kent were fortunate to have such a talented group of players, however, it needed someone special like him to lead them all to success. One needs to remember that the success he brought to Kent was achieved against a background of frequent disruption due to the loss of key players such as Luckhurst, Knott, Underwood and Woolmer to the Test and One Day England teams aside from himself of course. In addition, he'd lose Asif, Julien and Shepherd too to touring sides.   

He wasn't greatly treated by Kent when they removed the captaincy from him and so I was pleased to see him return to the club in later life as Chairman and then President.

I will always have those wonderful memories of him to look back on with great affection. 

Our loss is Heaven's gain with Luckhurst and Denness reunited to open the batting !

Mike Denness R.I.P.

Good Point Well Made

Another sterling away effort last night saw the Addicks gain an invaluable point at high flying Brighton. Albion are one of the better sides in the division and possess a good home record which underlines the fact.

One change saw Fuller drop to the bench for Wilson. I got won't repeat what others have said about the game other then it seems that there were fine performances all round aside perhaps from Wilson who didn't appear to have a great night.

All credit to Sir Chris for the last two games that has seen us garner four points that I didn't expect if I'm honest. The manner of the win on Saturday makes this all the more impressive.

We must acknowledge the gaffer's decision to reinstate Hughes in these last two games. Having had Gower arrive it must have been a real temptation to play him over Hughes especially as Andy has had less game time than Mark. It has proved to be a very sound decision.

Similarly, dropping Hamer has proved to be a success following a couple of below par performances from young Ben. He has returned in better shape and certainly seems to have a number of outstanding saves last night.

A glance at the table tells you how tight it all is with few points separating the top two thirds of the table and a great number of clubs remain " at risk ". Had we not got those four points it doesn't bear thinking about how we'd all be feeling and viewing the remainder of the season. The prospect of needing something from the Bristol City game is diminishing thankfully. It'll be nice if in a couple of weeks time we can sit back, relax and watch other clubs fret about their survival. I'm sure we all have our favourites that we'd like to see involved......

Leeds arrive on Saturday having just a dispensed with Colin's services. That's one distraction we won't have as everyone can focus more on the game than baiting the ex-Palarse manager. In his stead we have former Addick and relegation specialist Neil Redfearn. He'll be hoping to lead the team up the table rather than down although a play-off spot does now seem beyond them as Warnock's departure will testify.

Another returning ex-Addick is Luke Varney who, like many others it seems, never quite did it at The Valley and played some of his best football away from S.E. 7.

I've no doubt there'll be some tired legs after out last two outings and it won't be a surprise to see Sir Chris make a couple of changes not least Fuller ought to return to lead the line with Yann. I would like to see Haynes play wide right as it gives us more attacking options and pace.

I'm finally moving into my new house tomorrow which brings to an end the whole process that has taken a year to complete. My experience of estate agents hasn't been a good one ( bet you never thought you'd read that eh ? ) and I will blog on that one day, if only for cathartic reasons !

Years ago upon arrival at your new abode you could just plug in your new phone and t.v and away you go, however, those days are long gone ! I need to arrange t'internet, tv, wifi etc. Since this is likely to take at least a week, unless I get access to a computer in the meantime, you'll have to forego my ramblings. As and when I return I hope that we've managed to secure another 3 points in our quest for Championship survival.

Come On You Reds !

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.