Gloved Up.

Charlton Athletic 3 - Glovers 2.

Yesterday there was a special offer running at the Valley.
Season ticket holders were able to bring a couple of mates along for the princely sum of a tenner a pop.

I was impressed with the success of the scheme when we arrived at the entrance to the East Stand. There were the longest queues of expectant supporters since the heady days of the Premiership.

Unfortunately, the truth was less dramatic.
Only 2 turnstiles were open and the pushing crowds were getting restless.

I have no idea how many people came to the Valley yesterday who would normally have been elsewhere but what would they have witnessed?

As it turns out, the game turned out to be a bit of a cracker for those often mentioned 'neutrals'.

We had a visiting side who showed no indications of being in the drop zone. They brought the game to Charlton and looked dangerous going forwards. I was impressed with their commitment.

We had a couple of leaky defences. Both sides looked likely to concede which gave the game an edge of wondering what was going to happen next.

We had a couple of sendings off and a penalty which ultimately decided the encounter, along with 4 other goals, one of which was an absolute peach of an own goal.

We also had (another) set of completely incompetent officials.

It might not have been an absolute classic yesterday but by my reckoning, it was surely worth £10.

Today has been a day of wondering if Christian Dailly is going to be the subject of an appeal against the red card he received yesterday.

 He got an early bath for using his elbow but at the time I really didn't see it. I was convinced it was a clash of heads but after seeing the pictures on television it doesn't look good for CD.

Hopefully there'll be another camera angle to back up the kind words from Yeovil's Skiverton, who believes that the clash of heads theory is closest to the truth.

Johnnie Jackson has now taken over as top scorer after grabbing two goals yesterday.
His late, winning, penalty was an absolute screamer, blasting past the keeper who managed to get a touch on it.

Racon scored another fantastic goal. His good footwork making the space so he could send the ball into the far corner across the goalkeeper.

Charlton managed to stun the crowd by failing to deal with a miss hit free kick, then Gary Doherty sent the ball rasping into the top of Elliott's goal. As a forward, it would have been a finish to remember but as a defender it was a real head in hands moment.

All in all, a scrappy game with moments of high drama and a few moments of genuine skill.
The ball did spend rather a lot of time in the air as the teams hoofed it rather than played it out of trouble.
The contrast couldn't have been greater when compared to the passing game we had witnessed in the Rose of Denmark before heading to the Valley. (The North London Derby).

If I wasn't a regular anyway, I'm not sure the experience would have had me rushing to the ticket office for more of the same but it also wouldn't have put me off.

Casual Rating
In the circumstances, the reported crowd of just 15,184 was very poor but Yeovil didn't bring very many supporters to boost the figures.
 Those Glovers who did come along would probably have been very disappointed they didn't leave with at least a point. When we went down to ten men, I most certainly would have considered a draw to be an acceptable ending.
The Lacoste polo is being awarded to Johnnie Jackson - two goals scored in each of the last two games is a tremendous haul. Keep it up JJ.
This week I'm combining the Primark novelty slogan tee shirt award and 'Ref Watch'.
Oh dear, oh dear.
Tier 3 has been a real eye opener with regards duff officials but yesterday was another low point.
Dean Whitestone from Northampton, Come On Down!
Our first goal came from an award of a throw in that was an error.
 Robbie Elliott cleared from defence and the ball went straight out, possibly glancing off Benson's head. 
Oddly, Charlton were awarded the throw, which of course, we scored from.
Yeovil were, rightly, incandescent with rage.


From then on, you can be sure that if there was an opportunity to make a hash of it, our officials grabbed the chance with both hands.


The sending off of Dailly seemed harsh but there were countless, and I mean countless, other less meaningful decisions that weren't just debatable, they were cast iron wrong.

The winning goal, coming from a penalty was very pleasing but I was less than convinced at the time with Akpo's Tom Daley impression, (thanks Crispy), the reason for the award.

A soft penalty but as I said, pleasing nevertheless.

So, unbeaten in 8 games (in all competitions) since Brighton back on the 16th October. Of those 8 games, 7 have been won.

Can we keep the run going when The Pirates arrive on Tuesday?