The Brawl At Roots Hall

Players exchange pleasantries just before the final whistle.....

Charlton won 3 points at Southend that were hard fought in every sense and came at some cost.

It seems that we deserved the win with debutant Cullen being particularly impressive as he came straight into the starting eleven. No real surprise in that but there was with Ajose seemingly making a return to favour and starting along with Taylor and Grant.

Pearce replaced Sarr dropping to the bench. Aribo was injured and Marshall dropped out of the squad altogether. 

Fosu returned from injury finding a place on the subs bench. He went on to have quite an afternoon.

Things really took off in the second half with the Addicks taking the lead through Taylor only to be pegged back a couple of minutes later. 

On 87 minutes a bullett from Bielik saw him score his debut goal for us whilst restoring the lead.

In time added on things erupted as Fosu attempted to keep the ball in the corner. He was on the receiving end of late tackle that was followed up by a kick to the back of the legs. Little surprise that Fosu just returning from a lengthy lay off due to injury was a tad miffed. He shouldn't have reacted but perhaps it was understandable.

The Southend keeper ran a long way to get involved and he too saw red after throwing punches at the angelic-faced Lapslie. Oxley not really setting a good example as skipper.

Having only secured one win to date in the league, this was an important result to boost confidence and to move up the table. Sadly despite that the loss of Fosu for the next 3 league games is massive such is his ability and importance to the team.

His absence on Saturday allied to that of both Cullen and late arrival Ward due to international call ups is a blow that would be softened a bit if Reeves were to return to the squad. 

If we can keep players fit then we have a pretty decent squad. However, our recent injury record suggests that is unlikely added to which we'll certainly find suspensions playing a part too.

The EFL further underlined how absurd they are with the situation regarding Fosu's suspension. Tomorrow's EFL trophy game doesn't count as part of it but Fosu is not allowed to play as he's serving a suspension. What utter tosh ! 

The EFL trophy game against Wimbledon is of little interest save for seeing which players can survive unscathed. On the plus side it does allow Bowyer to get some playing time into one or two players who've not had much playing time of late.