Reffing Hell !

Old mutton chops - Rhodes Boyson - a lethal combination that did for Charlton yesterday

Back in the 80's the name Rhodes Boyson was very much associated with the Thatcher government of the day, in more recent times it was cause for much laughter when one recalls the interview with Ali G. Sadly Rhodes and Boyeson were no laughing matter for Addicks fans on Saturday and combined to bring about our third defeat in recent games.

For all the lavish praise heaped on Jordan Rhodes in two games against us he's only scored once and not in open play this season and not looked particularly threatening. Possibly, when facing a decent back five ( never sure why the keeper gets overlooked when the so called pundits talk of the defence ) he's not quite as good as those stats would seem to suggest. No doubt he'll be playing at higher level next season so we'll find out eh ?

I've been extremely busy of late as I'm trying to get my house on the market which has ( mercifully for you ! ) left me little time to blog. Yesterday was much the same and I was tidying and cleaning round Shangri-La occasionally glancing at the web page that had details of our game. I shut it down at half time and only later turned on the telly to find out the final score.

Without knowing all the details I assumed we'd huffed and puffed but failed to find a way through. That of course is partially true but doesn't tell the whole story. Weak and inept refereeing saw to it that we were to suffer a rare away defeat. I've not seen the challenge on Wagstaff but I've read enough of reports on blogs from those that were there and if Sir Chris is that irate then I need no further evidence, it must have been bad.

Checking on Referee Boyeson stats shows that he's very partial to giving penalties and red cards displaying a particular penchant for them in recent times. Leaving aside my obvious bias, I thought that it was a very weak penalty to give. I wouldn't be too happy if a free kick were awarded outside the box for that anywhere let alone in it. Very poor and he seemed to be very much a homer as has been alluded to elsewhere. That the man's highest refereeing achievement to date has been a handful of Championship games speaks volumes. I hope he never darkens our door again !

We surely missed Yann yesterday. He has been outstanding in so many ways this season. His two assists alone on Tuesday prove his worth to the side. Hopefully he'll be back on Saturday for the Orient. Good to see Hayes get a well merited opportunity. A more than useful player to have with us.

Russell lost it yesterday and being his second dismissal of the campaign I think that may mean a four match ban. Whatever, I doubt we will see him in what is left of this season. He will be very much regretting what he did.   

I thought Wagstaff did well on Tuesday night. No idea how he performed yesterday but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that he wasn't great, he never seems to manage to perform consistently well. At least we now have Cook and N'Guessan to put pressure on our usual wide men.   

Huddersfield will almost certainly be in the play-offs but probably won't be feared by many if when playing against 10 men with a willing ref on your side you can only manage a one nil win at home. I'd be surprised if they go up. However, they can at least console themselves with the satisfaction of that unbeaten run eh ?

Another defeat then but looking at the overall shape of the team and things in general I'm not despondent. There's competition in most areas, we are, save for Easter time left with Saturday only fixtures. If Sir Chris chooses to use his squad, drop under-performing players and make subs when needed then we should be fine.

Nothing is too much wrong. We've now completed all the really tough games and we are more than capable of winning all of those remaining if we stay calm and play as we all know we can.

Sir Chris and the lads have all week to work on how we're going to gain revenge on our East London rivals and prevent them from being the only team to do the double over us this season.