A New Dawn Part 1

The new manager who has made a good start.

I think it's fair to say that since I last got out the old laptop to blog things in S.E. 7 have moved on a bit. I haven't bothered for a while as my frustration with Robinson meant I was focused on him and expressed the same views. 

I will say before I move on that I always felt he wasn't right for our club and said so upon his appointment. Some have expressed a right man at the wrong time opinion. Not for me. Anyway he is now gone and it's time to look forward.

I had my doubts as to Lee Bowyer as a coach as I felt he lacked experience. The same for Jacko too as both are relative novices in that respect. That is not to say that I felt in the long term they wouldn't come good.

I think they had a problem whilst working for Robinson. Both men owe their opportunity to him and that I guess made it difficult to express a contrary view to the manager's plans. I'm not sure Robinson would have listened anyway.

To date I have to say that as caretaked manager I'm greatly impressed by Bowyer. He has said the right things and conducted himself in a suitable way. 

There could be shades of the Curbishly / Gritt partnership when ultimately Richard Murray made Curbs the main man when everyone though it ought to go to Gritt. That, of course, prove to be one of Murray's more astute decisions.

It would be great if the same proves to be the case with Bowyer and I appreciate that Skip turned down the chance. I think he was right to do so.

If a week is a long time in politics then in Charlton related football it's nearly an enterntity ! There was a stark contrast in almost every aspect of the game against Fleetwood and yesterday's versus Plymouth.

The atmosphere for a start so much better and more positive and a feeling that everyone was totally behind the new management team. If this proposed takeover goes through next week it'd be great to see loads of fans returning and for the ground to more full than of late. 

The football was so much better as the desire to get the ball forward quicker was blatantly evident. Gone was the tippy-tappy sideways and backwards football the typified our season to date.

The players were committed and showed great desire. Most of them would have been out on their feet at the end. For me, I never felt that a decent Plymouth side would score not even in those dying moments.

The defence was more cohesive and we didn't have a lack of height that we have when Da Silva and Solly play. Therefore, we defended set pieces in particular in a better fashion.

Throughout the season we have seen our players bullied and lacking a physical edge. Not yesterday as we stood up for oursleves. Despite the ref being poor in a way it was good to see him feel he had to speak to Pearce about our approach.

The mood for the afternoon was set early on with Page's wonder strike. How good was that ? I'm opting to overlook his attempt to repeat the feet a few minutes later. Suffice to say it ended up just wide of the goal!

Amos made a superb save before Zyro got the second goal. He pushed the shot onto the post and his reaction in jumping up and giving a huge fist-pump spoke volumes about the spirit in Bowyer's team.

Our second was a superb bullet header from Zyro and we were off up on our feet again celebrating!

I can't fault any player for their performance yesterday. Reeves probably had his best game for us. JFC was full of running and made some great tackles. Pearce and Bauer gave it their all and were superb.

Ajose was a striker reborn and deserved a goal for his efforts. I could go on as there were good displays acroos the whole team.

Clearly Bowyer has had an immediate impact. Remember he was missing the same players as the previous manager plus Konsa and Magennis too. Yet he got a largely 4-4-2 formation to work and involving players like Aribo and Dijksteel who were largely overlooked by Robinson.

The players left the field to a fully deserved standing ovation. Amongst other things I really didn't miss yesterday was the post match huddle and lap of honour. The players and manager acknowledged the crowd and left the field with their minds focused on the next game. 

Bowyer has a few nice selection headaches. Anyone who started yesterday will feel aggrieved if they don't start against the Cobblers.

The play-offs remain a possibility and if we can maintain the standard set yesterday then why not ?

If the takeover completes next week then the new dawn really is here and we can all start to look forward and be really positive about the club's future. It'll be a long way back but the hope will be there!

Come On You Reds !