Trannies Leave Charlton Limp

Charlton Athletic 1 - Tranmere Rovers 1.

It was bloody cold yesterday and our 'heroes' put me in a bad mood.

Tranmere started where Hartlepool and Leyton Orient had left off, making our side look ordinary and devoid of ideas.

The early season panache has now vanished and we are playing with a fear that it's all going to go pear shaped any moment now.

Tranmere, (obviously from their league position), are no great shakes. Despite this, they had done their research and placed speedy full backs on either side and really gave the impression of wanting to take something from the game.
They believed they could too.

The first half was dire.
Tranmere barely registered an attack and we fluffed our only guilt edged chance when Burton shot tamely as the half time whistle approached.

Rob Elliot had not made it through to half time after being clattered by Sodje. Robbie was able to walk from the pitch but he was struggling with a leg injury. It remains to be seen how serious the knock is. Elliot must surely be in doubt for the visit to Walsall later this week.

The second half started with the now, worryingly familiar goal, conceded as many supporters were still settling themselves down after their halftime stretch of the legs.

A freak goal yes, but 'top teams' don't seem to concede them do they? This was no Liverpool beach ball goal - neither Sodje or Randolph could do much about it, however the defence did seem to go to sleep.

At 1-0 down the reds powered back and equalised through Nicky Bailey. There was plenty of time to go on and win the game but again, too many misplaced passes and our midfield being totally bypassed at times made the whole job very tricky.

Debutant winger Reid had been playing well but was visibly tiring.
 He hasn't played much lately for Sheffield United and he is likely to be needed for the game on Tuesday.
Despite what seems a fairly obvious conclusion, when he was replaced there was a moan of disapproval, then boos and finally a loud chorus of "You don't know what you're doing!", from some of the intelligentsia in the Upper North.
Tranmere must have been given a boost from our public barracking of our own team.
Reid was playing well but he is ours until the end of the season so there's no point in crocking him now.

Wagstaff replaced Sam but due to the replacement goalkeeper, no other tweaks to the side were possible.  Mooney obviously expected to be leaving play as he started to run off before noticing his shirt number was not the one on the board.

The end of the game was a mess.
Tranmere missed an absolute sitter, then hit the underside of the crossbar.
A huge let off for the Addicks who then went straight up the other end and could / should have put the game to bed with 3 opportunities that each had me already celebrating the 'goal'.
Bum.

Norwich and Leeds are moving out of sight and we are now playing to consolidate our Play Off place.
The worrying part about that picture is the way we have been playing lately, we'd struggle to beat anyone in such a high pressure environment.
As it stands, we'd be playing Millwall over two legs.
We know how that particular story ends I'm sure.

We were told to expect a 'reaction' from the team after the Orient debacle.
I'm still waiting.

I was in a bad mood when I returned home, not because we'd failed to beat lowly Tranmere. On another day we'd have been soundly beaten.
I was in a bad mood due to our belief we only needed to show up to win. There were too many champagne passes that didn't come off instead of the basic ball to feet, maintaining possession.

Perhaps away from the increasingly hostile atmosphere at the Valley, the team will get a chance to flourish.
Let's hope so, starting on Tuesday.

A Casual Rating
A Lacoste polo is being awarded to Fraser Richardson who looked sound throughout and generally played the simple ball whenever possible.
The Primark novelty slogan tee shirt is being awarded to
a) all our players who kept passing the ball back to Rob Elliot when he was injured, forcing him to kick with his injured leg.
b) those in the Upper North, and elsewhere, who so publicly and hastily got nasty. It's not big or clever and when push comes to shove, we are a THIRD class team so there's no point in expecting Premiership quality.
It's one thing to boo Jimmy Floyd Piggybanks for lack of effort but totally another to crush young players who need our support. If they are worried to fail, there's no point in trying.
We need all our players to try.
There was a 'togetherness' between players and supporters at Wycombe.
We need to return to that state of affairs and it's not going to happen if we knock our own team.

"LET'S GET BEHIND THE ADDICKS!"