Don't Buy A Lottery Ticket This Week.

Yeovil Town 2 - Charlton Athletic 2

bum!

Grrrr.

Yet more testing times to be a Charlton supporter.

2-0 up and cruising to a well deserved away victory, in total control and with the game inside the final quarter.

All was looking positive.

In just the time it takes to boil a kettle, make a cup of tea and then settle down with a magazine, Charlton contrived to throw away 2 points.
 Our team managed to concede (yet another) flukey deflected own goal and then to compound the misery, a penalty that was naturally tucked away.

Can anybody remember the last time we received a lucky break?

We had a couple of instances in our promotion season from League One but not much since.

It got even worse today as once Yeovil equalised, they quickly found themselves playing against ten men when captain Johnnie Jackson received a 'straight red' for a strong challenge.

It's a draw that feels like a loss. 

It's never easy being an Addick but we'll all be back at the Valley next week, supporting and hoping for Lady Luck to finally smile on the team in red.

Farmers Weakly.

Charlton Athletic 3 - Yeovil Town 0.
While tonight's game was hardly a classic, it had all the ingredients needed from a Charlton perspective.


I must admit I was expecting more from Yeovil. 
They tried to play some good football but they just seemed rather flat.

They had obviously decided that Hamer is 'dodgy' from shots taken early.
Recent games may have lead them to believe this to be so but even if I had been in goal, Yeovil were unlikely to trouble the scoreboard with this tactic, unless it was from hitting it and damaging a few million pixels.

Time and time again long shots went sailing high over the bar.

New recruit Dany N'Guessan continued his remarkable record of scoring on his club debuts when (surely a cross?) was waved into the far corner by the Yeovil keeper, Walker.

One nil up with only 7 minutes played gave everyone a chance to breathe out.

There had been some tension amongst the Addicks with some believing tonight might be the game that started the club on the regular end of season slide.

A poor crowd witnessed one team doing enough to win and the other team trying hard but things just not breaking for them.

Yeovil annoyed me with their stupid Stabilo Boss inspired away kit.
Totally unnecessary.

Since when has Yeovil's traditional green meant a clash of kits with a team playing in red?
The nasty retina burning second kit may be all the rage in Somerset but in SE7 it really didn't pass any sartorial tests.

Charlton were well in command and we all breathed out again on the hour, when BWP put the finishing touch onto a fantastic header across the box by Kermorgant.

A 2-0 scoreline looked good but in the last few moments of the game it became 3-0 when Darel Russel poked home, to complete a wonderful team goal.

In summary, 3 points which was the main objective, added to a clean sheet, a couple of confidence improving fine stops from Hamer, another goal from BWP and the gap between us and second place remains the same 9 points but with another game gone from those available to catch us up.

A Casual Rating.
I have been quite critical of Waggy in recent months.
When he has come on, he's spent as much energy on berating linesmen and appealing for free kicks as he has trying to beat his man.

Tonight, Scott Wagstaff did everything he possibly could.
He was fantastic.
No moaning at officials and when he was fouled, or thought he was fouled, he just got up.

I had as much pleasure from watching Scott 'play properly' as I did from witnessing the goals. I loved seeing him charge in to block a free kick and realising he had time to nick the ball and run off with it!

For this reason, Waggy is getting the regularly awarded Lacoste polo.

Nobody is receiving the Primark novelty slogan tee shirt this time.
A good, solid team effort that may not have been perfect but it was certainly too good to start handing out booby prizes to anybody.

Ref Watch.
Late replacement referee D Coote made no enemies at the Valley this evening.
He was lucky that both teams weren't really going for each other.
I don't remember a single bad tackle all game.
The late booking Yeovil received didn't seem to be for a nasty tackle, more of a mistimed one.
It was probably a fairly easy game to officiate but I'm giving Mr. Coote an 8 out of 10.
Well done Sir.

Three Out Of Three.

Yeovil Town 0- Charlton Athletic 1.


Chris Powell really couldn't have hoped for a better start to his management career.

Three games played, three games won and no goals conceded.

Today's game, on a blustery afternoon in Somerset really only came alive after half time.

Both teams were apparently very poor throughout a first half only really memorable for the constant updates of Alan P****w's thrashing at home to Arsenal.
Of course, P****w and Newcastle were to come back from a 0-4 deficit which must have been a thriller to witness.

Returning to matters Charlton:
 Bradley Wright Phillips bundled the ball into the net from close range, after a Jackson corner, to give Charlton something to defend on 63 minutes.

Charlton seemed to have the benefit of some close calls by the referee, though for the second game running had to defend with backs to the wall for over 6 minutes of added on time.

Parky never really seemed to have much luck with the officials.

Today was just the kind of game where I could feel the referee giving a last minute penalty to the hosts.

Perhaps he would have done with our last, 'unlucky' manager?

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?

Celebrate!

Charlton Athletic 2 - Yeovil Town 0
YES !
Our team actually looked like they were playing with both belief and purpose this afternoon as the 5 game winless run, finally ended.

Yeovil could quite easily have gone 1-0 up but Robbie Elliot performed well to (twice) block free shots.

After the early scares, the Addicks looked fairly comfortable pushing forward, especially down the left side.

Debutant Johnnie Jackson made all the difference, linking particularly well with Kyel Reid, thereby taking the pressure off Lloyd Sam to provide the crosses.

Nicky Bailey had a game to forget.
Among the many errors today, he missed a golden opportunity to put the home side ahead when given the chance to go one on one with the 'keeper.
If anything, he had too much time to compose himself and merely blasted the ball against McCarthy who came rushing out from the Glovers goal.

On half an hour, Charlton pushed forward in numbers and looked to have an advantage of 5 players to 3 in the attack.
When Kyel Reid shaped to shoot it didn't look like the correct decision but the ferocity and late bend of his shot gave the Yeovil keeper no chance at all. McCarthy looked to have the ball well covered but the wicked bend in flight completely bamboozled him.
Charlton continued to press forward and the dominance finally paid dividends a second time, after 54 minutes, when Dave Mooney walloped the ball into the roof of the net after good play down the right side.

At 2-0, Charlton looked comfortable and the end of the game was played out without the usual Charlton jitters.

Well done to Parky and all the players for placing a smile on our faces this evening. It's been a while.

Norwich losing today is a bonus but they are so far ahead of us we need them to falter a few more times.

Lucky, lucky Leeds scoring again, EXTREMELY late into added on time, (AGAIN!) was a little disappointing as the Yorkshire side grabbed a draw at home against Brighton.

If we play with the same sense of belief on Tuesday, also against Brighton, I can see another 3 points on the board for us.
It's still all to play for.......... and I really didn't think that earlier in the week.

A Casual Rating
I'm awarding a 'welcome to the Valley' Lacoste polo shirt to new boy Johnnie Jackson. He had an almost faultless performance and seemed to be everywhere, doing just the right thing. Well done Johnnie!

The Primark novelty slogan tee shirt is being awarded to Nicky Bailey.
He wasn't appalling, just not up to the high standards we expect from our captain.
He made errors that on another day would have been harshly punished, not least losing possession in dangerous positions and passing too often without looking.

In fairness to Nicky, it was his tenacity and endeavor to win the ball back after an error that lead directly to the build up for the first goal.
However, in his heart of hearts, Nicky will know that today won't be going onto his highlight DVD.

Finally, please permit me a brief moment of self congratulation as this has been my 100th CC posting.
Thanks to everyone who has bothered to read me.

It's Yeovil Away

Unfortunately I won't be heading South West tomorrow.

This was one of the 'Away Days' I was most looking forward to but circumstances changed and I guess it will be the CAFC player service for me, if I'm lucky.

So, I'm feeling a little flat while trying to get my thoughts in order about our fixture in Somerset.

After last weeks surprise hammering of Franchise, Parky will not want to rock the boat too much with regards to personnel. Only Richardson is unlikely to feature from the previous starting line up and that is through injury.

Another battling performance will be called for, against a team who will surely be seeing us as one of the 'big boys'.
If Bailey gets to play in the middle and Mooney carries on making intelligent runs to draw the defenders I'm confident of 3 points.

For those of you lucky enough to be leaving London tomorrow, here's something to help you acclimatise, along with some local casual fashion tips so you can blend in seamlessly.

Come On You Reds!