Charlton 5 (FIVE), MK Dons 1.

What a game eh?

Despite the Dons going ahead through a well taken, wind assisted lob from Aaron Wilbraham after only 10 minutes, the Addicks cruised to victory this afternoon.

The Dons were only ahead for 2 minutes.
Had they been able to hang on to their lead for longer, the final result might have been different but as soon as David Mooney scored, the Reds started to play with belief.

Nicky Bailey could have had 3 or 4 goals today. It was his 20th minute race into the box to head the ball over the line that finished off a sublime piece of skill from Lloyd Sam.
At 2-1 to Charlton, the Dons never looked out of it and the swirling wind was making any pass longer than 5 metres rather a lottery as to where it would finish up.

Perhaps the turning point of the game was after the whistle had blown for half time.
Paul Ince went yack yacking to the ref, complaining about some unknown injustice, (an unawarded penalty?) and really seemed to lose his cool.
His own players saw it, the Charlton players saw it so they knew he was rattled and more importantly, the referee subsequently gave the Dons very few decisions that he really didn't have to.

In the second period, MK Dons defended as if they had their famous concrete cows as a rear guard.
They were appalling!
Without a word of a lie, they were lucky to keep Charlton to scoring only 5. A score of double figures would have been spectacular but not particularly flattering.

Lloyd Sam set off the party atmosphere when he tucked away Charlton's third. Despite the lime green boots, he managed to shimmy his way past the static defenders before finding the far corner of the goal.

Goal four settled the nerves of even the most pessimistic Charlton supporters.

I knew that Sam Sodje was going to score as Crispy flagged it with another of his famous predictions.
"Straight onto Sodje's head" he proclaimed prior to the ball swinging in from the corner.
As Sodje thundered his powerful header into the net, we laughed as well as cheered.

Goal five was Deon Burton's last contribution before being substituted. He took his chance well and deserved a rest after running tirelessly all afternoon.

The final minutes of the game were played out with Basey on for the injured Richardson, McKenzie on for Burton and Akpo Sodje on in place of the impressive David Mooney.
There were more goals available but rather late in the day, the Dons keeper seemed to start having a rather charmed life.

We didn't care.

For the first time in a very long time, we completely hammered a team who had arrived at the Valley as favourites.
Our slump had sent a spiral of despair around Charlton suppporters. The win today was just the response that was needed.

My only regret is that our best and most enjoyed result of the season so far, has come against a team that many football supporters refuse to acknowledge as even existing!

Casual Rating
The Lacoste polo shirt is being awarded jointly to Phil Parkinson and every Charlton player who pulled on the shirt today.
It was completely gloom town in SE7 this last week. The management and players deserve every credit for pulling the rabbit out of the hat, just at the right moment.
The Primark novelty slogan tee shirt is awarded to former Charlton target Jason Puncheon for his appalling challenge in injury time.
It wasn't needed and smacked of red mist because his team was losing.
 It did however, set off a highly enjoyable girly handbags fight, likened by Crispy to the Hugh Grant and Colin Firth slapfest in the Bridget Jones movie!
A special mention must go to the MK Dons support. It was clear that this was one of their 'big' games and they more than tripled their usual traveling numbers.
Even at 5-1 down, they stayed loyal to their team and mostly didn't take the opportunity to climb onto an early train home.