Yann's The Man !

YK - thankfully his legs didn't turn to jelly

The longer this season goes on the more one wonders where we would be or would have faired without Yann. Since his arrival he has just got better and better. He had a point to prove and I think he's made it. Yesterday saw a polished performance allied to 100% commitment and effort. He ran his chaussettes off yesterday !

Sadly his stirke partner is not enjoying the best of times but Yann is doing more than his fair share of work to help BWP through his slump. Very much a confidence player it'll only take a goal or two for Bradley to return to his best.

Our full backs also had great games yesterday, that's pretty much taken as red this season but none the less needs to be commented on. That the Bees never really looked like scoring yesterday has a lot to do with our solid defence. They had one good chance in the second half but a brave tackle from Cort helped ensure that went over the bar. Leon fitted in really well and was impressive given his lack of match action.

The first half was a forgetable affair and most of the team looked as though they were suffering the effects from 84 minutes with only 10 men on new year's eve. Douglas was afforded too much time and space seemingly allowed to play passes wherever he wished.

Morrison reacted first and bravely to the opportunity to score and took it well. " England's number 1 " got himself in a right old mess.......perhaps he should have spoken to Hamer about when to come off your line !

Speaking of our number one I'm afraid he didn't have a great game. He had little to do but there were a couple of dodgy moments from crosses and the punch in the first half was a bizarre piece of keeping that can only be put down to a terrible misjudgement. I think Hamer's good enough and should develop but he'll be as grateful as any of us that he has such a good back four in front of him.

The second half saw an improvement in our play as we pressed more and allowed Douglas less time. Why we didn't do that in the first I'm not sure. Sir Chris shouldn't leave it to half time to sort these things.

Brentford are a very big and very physical side who can play a bit of football when the mood takes them. They were permitted too much physical stuff yesterday and the referee made himself a laughing stock with some of his decisions. The repeated fouls from the West London side went totally unpunished. Pritchard got flattened as one defender put a ball out......I accept thier player won the header but the follow through was as unnecessary as it was dangerous.

I see that Rosler was moaning about not getting a penalty from the Saunders free kick which it probably should have been but he and the rest of his team get no sympathy from me following the pathetic behaviour from Alexander at both free kicks. Totally out of order and if that's how he want his team to play and condones it that's up to him. Personally I'd hate to see any of our players doing that and the German's obviously short on ideas if that's what it's come to. 

I'm not totally au fait with the LOAF but I'm sure there's something in there covering unsporting behaviour. That it came from the charmless ex-Millwall man came as no surprise to me. Just another example of the weak refereeing we witnessed yesterday.

The East Stand lino was as hapless as his senior colleague seemingly missing incidents in front of his very eyes and seeing the ball go out of play when it clearly never did ! 

Leon Clarke came on for an instantly forgettable debut. One can only assume his lack of game time explains it. I'm sure he's better than that and must possess greater pace when fit. Sir Chris again showed his ruthless side in having Clarke on the bench and as I said in my previous post I do wonder where his arrival leaves Euell and Hayes not to mention young Smith.

I was pleased to see Pritchard make his full league debut and he again showed touches of class allied to great composure. I like him..........

One of the lessons learned from the festive period is that Green needs to play the full ninety plus time added on. The gaffer has clearly learned that as Danny Boy didn't come off when Wagstaff came on. He's on a hot goalscoring streak now eh !

I rather enjoyed the PA's quip on announcing the Huddersfield score that they are unbeaten this year........well done to them and the lovely Lee Clark.

Sir Chris has been in charge for nearly a year now and has forged his own team that contains players that all have gelled quickly and impressively. A hint as to one aspect of how that's been acheived was contained in the programme yesterday which was the team photo in the centre pages. This was Team Charlton containing as it did not only the players but also backroom, office staff etc with no obvious hierarchy in terms of the seating arrangements. All Mr Powell's idea apparently and something that speaks volumes about our manager.