Charlton Athletic 1- Carlisle United 0

The scoreline tells you nothing about today's game.

If ever there was a time when a team were absolutely hammered 1-0, this was it.

If Charlton had exited the pitch at full time having won by 4 or 5 clear goals, it wouldn't have flattered us.

Chance after chance went begging in the second half and it was just as well that Sam Sodje had scored with a bullet header from a perfect, swinging deadball cross, late in the first half.

Charlton managed to exhibit a bewildering array of ways to fluff chances.
While the score remained 1-0, it always seemed likely that Carlisle might catch us on the break and punish us with a case of daylight robbery.
Luckily, when just that situation arose, the celebrations of the Cumbrians were cut short as the linesman raised his flag for offside.

Phew!

So, 3 more points and perhaps a little bit of confidence in the camp as we head down to St Mary's for the showdown with Pardew's Saints at Southampton next weekend.

A Casual Rating
Undoubtedly, the biggest cheer of the afternoon emanating from our particular part of the ground, was when Crispy, myself and Crispy's dad were interrupted from our enjoyment of a bag of Chocolate Buttons.
The reason?
Crispy senior won the halftime draw and therefore headed home to Bromley this evening very nearly £1000 richer!
Congratulations Sir!

The Lacoste polo shirt is being awarded to Sam Sodje, firstly for smashing the ball into the net but also performing some excellent, well timed challenges that nullified some very dangerous attacks.
Akpo Sodje looked sharp when he came on, though his shooting boots were left in the changing room.
The much maligned Dave Mooney, (often by me!) also deserves an honourable mention as he could have been credited with 3 or 4 assists today had others not messed up at the critical moment.
Racon and Semedo both had good games but Sam Sodje keeps the shirt.

The Primark novelty slogan tee shirt is staying in the wardrobe this time.
Nobody had an absolute stinker and even though some of the referee's decisions seemed a little odd, he tried to play advantage for both sides and the game did flow.

A bon voyage to Crispy, Juliet and Hannah as they head off to Cuba tomorrow morning for a little R&R.
Upon their return, Crispy will need to really up his training as this year's London marathon will only be a few weeks away.
He's running for Breakthrough Breast Cancer, contribute here.

I hope he returns to news of our points haul from the games against Southampton and Colchester.