Caught Knott Bowled Underwood

The Boys Are Back In Town

If one of your earliest childhood sporting memories is of the above method of dismissal for both Kent and England, then you'll be interested in the reunion of the Kent CCC 1970 championship winning side.

It takes place this Friday at the St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury and whilst tickets are a tad expensive at £50 per head, I think it's an evening not to be missed. This price includes a 3 course meal and a copy of the excellent " Trophies and Tribulations " which offers an insight to events covering 40 years of Kent cricket.

All surviving memebers bar two will be there. That includes an appearance by A.P.E. Knott on a rare trip over from his now home in Cyprus.

For fans of Kent cricket over many generations but particulalry the 1970's this promises to be a truly wonderful evening. This group of players over the following 10 to 11 years formed the basis of teams that went on to be the most successful the county has ever had. Aside from that it wasn't unusual for most England teams to have at least 3 or 4 Kent players in it such was the strength of the team. Indeed that 1970 winning side was without Cowdrey and others, absent on test duty,  for several games.

Tickets are still available from the club and I urge you to get one. Visit the club website for all relevant details.

It promises to be quite a night.

East and West

Short-sighted, can't walk unaided, infirm........he should have no trouble beating England tonight !

What a weekend readers ! It all starts tonight when England take on a womble as they seek to win back our affections after a surprisingly poor world cup performance that left the nation stunned. Well Steve G and the lads don't worry about winning back my affections..........I never had any for you anyway although rumours persist that others might have eh !

This is gripping stuff so I'm off to an alcohol fuelled quiz which is to be followed by a curry. I could get the same after-effects watching our brave boys sans the beer and food but this will be far more enjoyable.

Who really cares.........evidently not Terry nor Lampard who as we know feel that their feeble world cup efforts didn't affect the Chelsea side and at the end of the day that's all that really matters eh ? No siree, JT and Lamps are sitting this one out but hope to be fit for CFC's next game.

On Tuesday they take on the chocolate, cheese, clock making and peace loving neutral Swiss. Both these footballing goliaths will probably prove more than a match for the England lads and even if not, why bother. What does anyone think they'd do if they even qualified for the final stages ? Just more embarrassment for the rest of us. 

Aside from the start of the rugby season starting our boys will be in deepest Devon tomorrow taking on those Exeter boys. Yep our lads will up against the pasty-munching, cider-swilling folk from the West Country.

Parky now has some positive selection issues for a change which is refreshing. Hopefully, Dailly will make it to play. I'd like to see Fry given a go. I'd rest Wagstaff as I fear he's not as effective as the Orient game suggested he might be.

Play Martin on the right. Bring back Solly. Get Benson in. Play Racon. Play Semedo. Play Reid. Play Fortune. Play Llera. Play Kevin Pietersen. Play 14 players. Play it again Sam.......

I'm losing the plot and I've not had a beer yet. At least I've avoided any stereotypes which, like cliches, I avoid like the plague.

Come On You Reds !

Cheerio ! Cheerio ! Cheerio !

" Doh ! "

Super, super Al, super, super...........oh hang on ! May be not ! Southampton have now decided as we all did some while ago that " you're not super any more ! "

Oh dear ! Never mind I'm sure he'll pop up some soon at a football ground near you. I do so hope that he gets full compensation.......we know that's important to him regardless of how well ( or otherwise ) you've performed.

Super Al allegedly has some strange ways as I understand and perhaps it's those that have contributed to his dismissal. I believe he was lucky to last into this season.

Super Al is unlikely to have a better opportunity than he had at Saints given the whole set up with good players and money at his disposal. He's certainly spent a great deal of it.

I assume that the Saints have someone lined up........Martin O'Neill may well be inerested if he looks at the long term.

I was going to post about Satruday's game but not much to say on that. Obviously the injury to Elliott just help to highlight how thin our squad is. We desperatley need those new recruits !

Perhaps Fry needs to play a bigger part in the team and now !

Eh up ! A famous Terrier !

Zoe Lucker - famous fan of the Terriers

As you can tell I've been doing some research on famous Huddersfield Town supporters as evidenced by the photo above. There's nothing gratuitous about that I can assure you. Harold Wilson was a supporter too but do you know, I couldn't get a picture of him !

Despite Town playing in midweek this remains a tough game. Like the majority of fellow bloggers I'd be happy with a draw. Their main goal scoring threat comes in the form of Jordan Rhodes. In addition, the arrival of Alan Lee from Palarse makes it a certainty that he'll score given the law of sod.

Town are a good side and we'll need to be at our best. Certainly a vastly improved performance from last week is needed. The side is fairly perdictable barring injuries. Dailly in for Llera and Semedo in for Racon. I guess Wagstaff has earned another start but I'd like to think that Parky would consider putting Martin out right and getting another forward on if it's not working.

I had hoped we'd have strengthened the squad by now with everything done and dusted. Our squad remains painfully thin leaving little room to change things during a game. We do seem to be making hard work of getting these transfers sorted. I'm sure all are doing their best but as is ever the way with the Addicks it's going down to the wire eh ?

I do hope that Fortune signs up as I believe he'll be more than capable at this level and is a Charlton man after all. I've no idea if the much referenced Benson is any good but trust he's quicker on a football pitch than he is putting pen to paper.

I'm not doing so many away games this season for various reasons mainly but not purely financial. My absence tomorrow is down to cricket which I'd happily pass up if I could as it's meaningless match and it's not going to be 27 degrees in the shade ! Sadly I'm obligated meaning my first absence of the season.

Given the nickname of the Terriers I can't let the opportunity pass without a dog " joke " ( the term joke used very loosely of course ).........
A postman meets a boy and a huge dog.  " Does your dog bite ? " asks the postman. " No " replies the boy. The dog then bites the postman's leg. " You said he didn't bite " shouts the postman. " That's not my dog ! " says the boy.  

Come On You Reds !

Lancastrians Spoil My Sporting Weekend

Once more unto the breach......a typical Lancastian as seen at Canterbury last week

I enjoyed a very pleasant few days last week on the Kent coast ( once more unto the beach ) and at Canterbury watching Kent take on Lancashire. Many wonderful childhood memories of holidays and superb cricket especially from the teams of the 70's.

If you're a Kent fan and not aware there is a 40th anniversary dinner for the 1970 championship winning side on Friday 10th September at the St Lawrence ground. Tickets are rather expensive at £50 a shot but all surviving members bar two of them are expected to be there and it should be a great evening. Check the Kent CCC website for details.

My own cricket was called off on Saturday morning which left me free to get to the Valley. I expected a difficult game but fully anticipated a win assuming we matched our previous two performances. The result from Canterbury gave a clue as to how the football might go as the Kent team pretty much surrendered save for efforts from Coles and Tredwell.

Sadly the Addicks didn't play well and Oldham got a deserved draw and could have gone away with more. We never really got going after having dominated the early exchanges but as ever we didn't score that vital second when we were on top albeit briefly.

There was little room for changing the side given our flimsy squad and the two suspensions, speaking of which Semedo was sorely missed.

I felt Wagstaff faded in the second half and that he should have come off with Martin moving out to wide right. Abbott got little to no protection from the referee as he was manhandled all afternoon. The referee was another shocker I felt, at least he didn't send one of ours off I suppose ! Nice to see the other team get someone sent off..............I think their boy will in trouble for firing the ball at our dugout although if Parky was his target then that was a poor effort from close range !

I was disappointed to hear some booing at half time and the final whistle...........don't think that's deserved at all. This current team may not be as good as some recent Charlton teams but I don't feel you can accuse them of lack of effort.

We desperatley need to get another couple of players in and I'm sure Parky and co are working on that. Another striker and a wide man remain the priority for me. Let's hope we can get a couple of quality players in. I suspect we may have to wait until deadline day as is the way with the Addicks.

In the meantime, I note from Wyn Grant's Championship Diary :-

http://addickschampionshipdiary.blogspot.com/2010/08/shrimpers-turn-down-mcleod.html

that Izale McLeod  has just been rejected by Southend. This follows being turned down by Brentford and Rotherham. It seems that Izale is proving about as popular as the toilet paper of similar name, ouch !

Wyn poses the question why we paid so much money for him. It's all down to the previous chief scout ( pictured below ) who has since left the post. I understand that his ability to scout sadly didn't match his skills at the keyboard.

Hats Off !

Well done Parky

What the hell do I know ? Something of a rhetorical question eh ! I'd have started with Solly and Sodje whilst leaving out Francis and Wagstaff. When Dailly was sent off I'd have kept Reid on and taken Wagstaff off. I moaned like hell about these decisions but ate humble pie well before the final whistle went.

For the second game running a player I rate very little turned in a man of the match performance so well done to Wagstaff. Like Solly I hope he can keep this up. I confess to going every so slightly mad when the third went in !

What a game and what spirit from the lads. Now we've got rid of the fancy dans and big time charlies we've a team that seems full of fight and spirit. This is what's needed and let's hope that we can really push on this season and get up. I think we have a real chance.

It might help if we can keep all eleven players on the pitch ! Again I felt a sense of injustice. Dailly's yellow for handball seemed harsh to me and the second too. I don't think the ref thought about a yellow until their player did a Nicky Bailey impression on the floor !

Every player worked their socks off last night and there was great support from us in the stands. All really good. It gave us all a chance to laugh at the ludicrous Man Utd fan in the home area........what a t**t !

Cricket for me today has been rained off and I could do with the same next week because I'm going to miss next week's game if not.

These sending offs will stretch our squad to the limit so let's hope we get through next week with no new injuries or suspensions, get another win and be all set to take on Huddersfield.

We are top of the league ( for now anyway ) !

Leighton's Orient

The great man himself - Frederic Leighton. This is a self-portrait, sadly not even Wikipedia has been able to identify the artist.

 

Leighton's Orient - Frederic was highly influenced by the East End. This is the Arab Hall, designed to display Leighton's priceless collection of over a thousand Islamic tiles, the interior evokes a compelling vision of the Orient.............poor attention to detail though as there's no sign of the Matchroom Stadium.

Amazing and if we're honest, we probably all thought there was no connection between culture and Friday's opponents. As ever, Wikipedia and some dogged research, proves otherwise. Poor old Fred died a day after being made a peer.............became a Lord and then met the Lord........heaven's above !

I think we can all write-off Tuesday's performance as a bad day at the office and focus on the league. To be honest most of us wanted out of that competition anyway, just not in the manner in happened. Thankfully Huddersfield won their game meaning they play midweek before we travel to meet them on the Saturday.

I'm going to the game on Friday as I did last year. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening then. The result and in coming back from 1-0 behind was great and a few pre-match beers in the Birbeck Tavern ( on Langthorne Road ) helped make the evening. Good pub this with nice ales and a good beer garden.......well worth a visit if you've time.

The O's have a few players with Charlton connections not least Matt Spring. I guess Matt will be out to prove a point and so will be fired for it. Don't think they rested many players for their Carling Cup game in midweek so hopefully our boys will mostly be fresher.

I assume we'll have the same starting eleven as Saturday save for Semedo and Wagstaff. They're likely to be replaced by Racon and Martin respectively. Prior to Semedo's sending Parky may have thought have moving to 4-5-1 but that's all gone west now even if he was. I can't see he's got any real flexibility there.

I expect that this will be a tough game, however, with good away support and hopefully matching performance from the lads I think we're good for at least a point.

Come On You Reds !