Play-Off Anticipation

Following last Saturday's wonderful performance The Addicks secured 3rd place and play-off match against Doncaster Rovers.

In so doing we have avoided Pompey and Sunderland and secured the home tie as the second match.

The only danger in all of this is that the team become a litle complacent in so doing. However, the team is managed by Lee Bowyer with assistance from Johnnie Jackson. There is no way those two will allow anyone to apporach the games anything less than a 100% focused.

Added to that the players do seem very fixated on the task in hand as well as being a close knit and supportive group.

All of the above added to how well and consistently the team has performed in recent months.

In terms of personnel, it seems that Igor is unlikely to play in either semi-final with the final should we get there being his best chance of featuring at all.

Whilst Parker doesn't fill one with confidence in terms of scoring to be fair he does do a lot of good work off the ball as Bowyer himself observed.

The manager has done a wonderful job in getting the maximum out of the squad and anyone who plays can be relied upon to give their all.

There are plenty of optons in midfield and picking players for that area of the team will be toughest of all.

One player not to feature all season is Jake Forster-Caskey. Not a bad player to have to add to the squad. No doubt he will have been hugely frustrated not to feature especially given the quality in the team.

JFC must be hoping that he can be involved to some extent and having worked so hard to get back to fitness ahead fo schedule you hpe that this will prove the case for him.

Ticket sales for both home and away have gone through the roof to serve a further reminder of the potential of our club. Sadly our owner won't appreciate anything other than the fiscal element of that.

The atmosphere in the away should be fantastic of course and maybe taken to a new level which given how it's been this season would be phenominal!

Ahead of tomorrow's game today is the anniversary of the Braford fire which serves as a reminder of the sometimes darker side of football and life.

On a lighter note if you're going tomorrow and are a fan of the wonderful I'm Sorry I'm Having A Clue, there is a recording for the upcoming series in Doncaster tomorrow night.

Good luck to those travelling up tomorrow. Let's hope we can arrive at The Valley in a good position.

Come On You Reds !