Yeeeeeeessssss!!!

Watford 3 - Charlton Athletic 4

I'm often reminded just how little I know.

On New Years Eve, a brief chat with a Charlton supporting neighbour had me pontificating sage like, (on the back of a defeat to Ipswich and a draw against Derby).

"I don't know why I'm bothering to go to Watford.
We are going to get over run in midfield and I really can't see where our goals are going to come from".

Hmm.

We didn't just score, we scored 5, (though one was chalked off for an invisible infringement from our end of the ground).

As has been highlighted elsewhere, Watford have changed from being a team famous for a rather agricultural approach in the way they hoofed the ball forward and clattered opponents with their elbows and shoulders.
Their current mode of playing the game is certainly slightly more easy on the eye but totally despicable and absolutely everything I despise about the modern game.

Watford are lucky to have some fantastically skilled and pacey players on loan to them.
These players should have had me purring with admiration while also feeling a touch jealous that we hadn't managed a similar link up with Italian club Udinese and others.

As it was, I felt proud to be following a team who while being no angels, certainly don't use trying to cheat as a way of beating their opponents.

Forestieri got sent off for 'slipping' (HAHAHAHAHA) in the penalty box at The Valley.
He has learned nothing in the intervening months.

If he tried to stay on his feet he'd be a world beater.
Unfortunately, his way of playing was to push the ball into space, run onto it and hope he got 'touched' so that as those idiots on MOTD would say, he'd be 'entitled' to go down.

No he wouldn't.

It's cheating and completely anti football.

If it had just been Forestieri who wanted to stretch the rules, it might have been almost acceptable but unfortunately there were incidents all over the pitch.

I lost count of how many times players in yellow fell to the floor, holding their face after challenges were made.

I loved Zola as a player.
I've always really disliked Chelsea but I was able to see through the veil of distrust to admire his honest skill and endeavour.

This makes it all the more distasteful to witness Watford's current tactics.
He's obviously coaching the team to cheat.

Shame.

Sometimes events were so amateurish in their execution, I almost forgot to be angry.

Step forward number 5, (Neuron?) who walked into the back of Fuller, then threw himself to the floor, attempting to get him sent off.

The same cheating basket was touched so minimally around chest height, yet fell to the floor as if he had been shot, holding his face.

His mum must be so proud.

The game itself was one where we went behind according to the script I'd predicted, then equalised, then went ahead, then lost it a bit and went behind before finally Captain Jackson sent the Addicks behind the goal into raptures with a powerful header.

Due to the dubious tactics employed by Watford, it felt so sweet to give them a beating.

I loved the fact that the two attitudes on display had ended up with, in my opinion, the 'right' one prevailing.

In general, our players looked to stay on their feet.
Fuller could have gone down 3 times in one move but didn't, then laid on the perfect cross for a goal.

Pritchard was being clattered but he didn't lie down and cry.

It was ironic that after all the Nancyboy rolling around on the floor claiming elbows and palms in the face from the Italian softies, it was our own Lawrie Wilson who had to go off with a broken nose!

It took rather a long time to get home from Watford.
Transport was working fine, it was just that we all felt it necessary to ease our dry throats in Watford town centre and later Euston.

Thanks for a grand day out Crispy, Jim, Rod & Al.
Thanks too to the Charlton team.
A day to remember.

One final note of thanks must go to the referee, Trevor Kettle.
We've not had the best of relationships but yesterday, though he did fall for a few episodes straight from the RADA handbook, he was generally no worse than any other referee we've had and much better than most.

I really didn't expect to be saying that!

Happy New Year to all Addicks and others.