If you were at The Valley today, you don't need me to tell you it was a bit of a shambles and if you weren't, well, lucky you.
Charlton scored first, a well taken goal from Rob Hulse.
He took his shot early and gave the 'keeper little chance, such was the power and accuracy.
Once Charlton went ahead, 'Boro lifted their game and came back due to a powerful header from Jonathan Woodgate.
Woodgate?
I had no idea he was still playing.
He's been off my radar since he sat on the treatment table at Real Madrid, only to return to England to be injured again, just closer to home.
Perhaps our defence were of the same opinion as nobody felt it even slightly necessary to mark him when the free kick came in?
Woodgate's free header resulted in the equaliser 'Boro deserved.
At Half Time, 1-1 seemed to be a fair score.
The second half was a bit of a 'mare.
All you need to know is Charlton made a further 4 mistakes, resulting in 3 more goals, plus an effort that hit the upright and then trickled along the goal line (before being hoofed to safety).
We would probably have got away with all the howlers last season but today Boro ran riot.
Their ability to pounce on errors and break forward with speed was the difference today.
Charlton did make chances and could, (and should), have scored another 2 or 3 but the belief was gone way before the final whistle.
We knew this season was going to be a very different prospect to last season's parade to the title.
We knew we weren't going to win as many games as last time.
It all seems a long way away now.
The long list of first teamers currently out of action doesn't help of course but today we were outclassed.
It's Cardiff visiting on Tuesday.
Another tough game is in prospect.
Casualty Rating
Only Chris Solly came out of the game with much credit, though Hulse took his goal well.
A game to forget for all of us, though hopefully Chris Powell will use it to motivate the squad.
Boro supporters came in large numbers.
They made plenty of noise which was a good thing as the Charlton support had little to cheer about.
It was particularly enjoyable to see a few of them rocking the 'look' of 2003, (Burberry scarf and Paul & Shark caps.)
Maybe it was ironic?
Sartorial matters aside, I won't be remembering today as anything other than 'pony'.
If we are going to keep things topical, I'd have to say today was a Halloween Horror Show rather than Guy Fawkes Fireworks.
Hulse too his goal well without doubt but it was he who stood and watched Woodgate saunter into the box and head home unchallenged - Hulse knew what he needed to do he simply chose not to do it - the less said about his finishing after that the better. His attitude was twice that of the execrable Stephens. Powell's selections become ever more baffling - Kerkar as left back in this game against this opposition - beyond credibility! The reshape at halftime was enforced and unfortunate but the choice made can only have come from blind selection from a lucky dip bag. Morrison had a game to forget - 2 calamitous errors directly leading to 2 goals so when the time came to go for broke with 2 at the back SCP takes off Cort, moves Dervite to a 3rd role in the match andleaves on the misfiring Morrison with his confidence shot to bits - there aren't words to explain this.
ReplyDeleteTuesday against Cardiff could easily run to a cricket score if they chose to have fun and go for the jugular. 14 points from 14 games is rotten and the next 8 or so fixtures show few glimmers of hope.
Wasn't all bad tho I saw 2 excellent fireworks displays this weekend
:(