A Cautionary Tale

A huge congratulations to Blackpool who managed to beat Nottingham Forest over two legs, to reach Wembley for the Championship Play Off final.

Blackpool won both legs, the home leg 2-1 and the tricky away second leg 3-4, commanding an impressive aggregate score of 4-6.

I would be very surprised if any other Addick chose to follow the game online by logging onto the CAFC player service and then choosing the Forest - Blackpool game to listen to.
My reasoning was due to our friend 'Chis' being the commentator covering the match for Radio Lancashire.

I was really impressed with his performance.
He was partisan towards Blackpool of course but even when Forest scored, he didn't let it colour his descriptions or make it obvious he was supremely gutted.
A solid, professional performance.

We should all be aware that Blackpool were universally assumed to be the weakest team in the Play Offs, yet they have made it to Wembley.
Forest were the form team.
Apparently, Forest hadn't even conceded a goal at home since late February!

Lowly Blackpool with their small crowds and half built stadium, were thought by some as highly likely to crumble when faced with the 28,000 crowd at the City Ground with their passion and volume.

We should be aware that Swindon will be fancying their chances against us, starting on Friday.

Their relatively small and unglamorous ground, lack of large support plus being beaten on the last day of the season will mean nothing and neither will their visit to a relatively large ground on Monday.

We need to focus, concentrate and show Swindon the respect they deserve for reaching the Play Offs.

As Ian Hollaway said about 10 days ago,
"There are 4 teams in it. Someone has to win it and get promoted. It may as well be us."

Blackpool have shown that other teams past successes or misfires mean nothing. We need to forget about what's happened and go forward together.

Charlton would do well to emulate the Tangerines.