Wet Weekend

Charlton Athletic 1 - Huddersfield 1.

The weekend started off in fine fashion on Friday evening.
Along with Al and my sister, I was at KOKO in Camden for the Wedding Present crashing through the final date of their Seamonsters tour.

I bought the Seamonsters album when it came out in May 1991, (on cassette!) then upgraded to a CD version just a few months later.
Due to multiple home moves, both copies went missing so I ended up buying a newer version a couple of years ago that has some extra tracks added.

I was pleased that none of the 'extras' were played when the band decided to play the album live.
It wouldn't have felt right to me.

Twenty odd years ago, I ended up having to look after a hamster.
Due to a series of events not worth going into on here, the owner ended up leaving it with me long term.
I renamed it 'Gedge' after David Gedge, the lead singer of the Wedding Present.

Before the show on Friday, David Gedge, (the real one), was hanging around in the foyer so Al went and shook his hand, as did I.

Unfortunately, (as younger sisters are expected to do), I had my veneer of cool completely shattered when she told the bewildered bloke he'd had a rodent named after him.

I tried to laugh it off but I was really struggling.

The show turned into a CAFC love in when Louis and Martin spotted us in the Muppet Box we'd strolled into, (well nobody stopped us), and came to join us.

More drinks at the Cittie of Yorke on the way home ended a good evening.

The Valley wasn't a nice place to be on Saturday.
The wind and rain lashed across the pitch and it seemed impossible for (those players from the North) to stay on their feet.

For a team of supposedly hardy tough nuts who look down on us Southern softies, they did spend rather a lot of time rolling on the floor.

The sending off they received may have been harsh in retrospect but in real time, from my angle, it looked a fairly good decision.
I couldn't give a toss at the time though as I was remembering how we'd been well and truly 'Trevor Kettled' by the most appalling refereeing up at their place last season.

They had won 1-0 due to a penalty, (not debated), a sending off, (maybe the right decision but their player had to go too) and the referee being almost their best player.

Perhaps this was a little piece of justice?

Huddersfield are a strong side and looked dangerous going forward but especially in the dicey conditions looked a bit shaky at the back.

Hulse scored after a well worked build up and from that moment there looked like only one possible result.

Fuller seemed to have doubled the lead, and made sure of the 3 points, but the ball squirted agonisingly inches wide with all around me celebrating then grabbing their heads and sinking back down again.

Charlton fannied around instead of pushing forward and we felt sure that at just 1-0 Huddersfield were going to get at least one more chance or there'd be a defensive mistake that could prove costly.

As the clocked ticked towards 90 minutes it seemed as if the storm, (at least the one on the pitch) had been weathered.

Unfortunately, probably due to the extremely inclement conditions, Hamer spilled one and there was a big scramble in the Charlton penalty area.

From our angle it was impossible to tell what had happened but suddenly the referee was walking away and pointing to the penalty spot.

It would seem that Solly was penalised.

Those with a better view than me said it was a soft decision and just the kind of evener a referee might give if he was having doubts about the legitimacy of the earlier sending off.

Huddersfield were probably worth the point they gained but it was extremely frustrating for Charlton to drop 2 points so close to the end.

A few drinks in the Rose of Denmark after the game made the result sting less of course.

We'll all be looking for a reaction on Tuesday evening against Peterborough.

A Casualty Rating
He went from 'Dench' to 'Drenched' in his Charlton debut.

 I was very impressed with our loan from Arsenal, Emmanuel Frimpong.
Up until he left the pitch with what looked like cramp, he had been the midfielder I've felt we've needed this season.

I'm hoping he'll be available for Tuesday and especially our visit to the neighbours at Millwall next weekend.
It's probably not his style but I'm awarding 'the 'Pong', the regularly handed out Lacoste polo.