Nothing To See Here

Millwall 0 - Charlton Athletic 0

Move along, nothing to see here.

Millwall have extremely poor crowds on a weekly basis. 

 Despite protesting they have no feelings regarding us 'trainspotters' from down the road, over the last few years, they've always had their biggest home gate of the season when the Addicks travel the 4 miles West.

In turn, despite having a woeful record at the Den, Charlton supporters have clamoured for tickets at the Toolbox for the recent fixtures, then been really up for it once kick off time arrived.

Not this season.

This was the game that sneaked up on us.  Most supporters were looking at the game last weekend up at Sheffield and since then, events at the club have hardly generated any enthusiasm for people to purchase tickets if they hadn't already got them.

So, just 16,000 at the Den with 2,500 Addicks in attendance, Charlton failing to sell out the allocation.

Both teams were poor - Charlton had the better approach play but never looked like scoring, Millwall looked more likely to score but were often run ragged in the middle. Any Charlton dominance was just window dressing though as we were so lightweight and toothless in front of goal.

If ever there was a 0-0 draw it was this one. 

It was just like the game between the two teams earlier in the season, except on that occasion one side scored with a speculative shot that was more likely to trouble the ball boys, until it deflected into the home goal. 

Yesterday, we could have played a second 90 minutes and I'm pretty sure the score would have remained the same.

The 'famous' Lions roar at the Den never materialised. The atmosphere was fairly flat from both sets of supporters. Charlton fans and Millwall fans united in apathy for much of the game.

Highlights would be very difficult to pick out. 

My memories will all be about the fattest steward I've seen in my life, closely followed by the fattest female steward.

Post game, the Charlton support were held inside the ground until 5:30pm  "for our own safety", (the Millwall supporters can't be trusted to behave), so we wandered down into the main concourse under the stand. We could see it was getting rather cramped so turned around to walk back to our seats.

At that point a neon jacket sporting bloke, jumped out at me demanding to see my ticket!

I pointed out the game was now over and he seemed fairly shocked. 

I wonder how many people he sees arriving at 5:10pm, deciding the best part of the afternoon is watching the players perform their warm down?

In all honesty, if I had purchased a ticket for the after game stretches, I wouldn't have missed a thing.

It was all back to the OLB post game to sink some great beers and talk rubbish. 

Hardly a feast of football but it's a point gained that could be very, very useful over the coming weeks.

"...Wake Up Your Sleepy Head……"

Charlton Athletic 1 - Sheffield Wednesday 1.

If I'm trying to grab the positives from the afternoon at the Valley, I'd have to include, (along with the happiness that at least we didn't lose), the fact that I didn't have far to walk to witness a painful example of Yuletide football.
Those poor sods who made the journey to SE heaven from anything beyond the distance of Dartford were ripped off miserably.

I gave up buying programmes a few years ago when I had to get rid of about 15 years worth, clogging up the spare room.

Yesterday I really wished I had something to read.
It was pretty dull.

There's always some strange/magnificent results at this time of year when form seems to be found and lost with coupon busting results.
After a quick perusal of the odds I noticed we were 175/1 to win 5-0.

I've never been more wrong in my life.

The exuberance and confidence we witnessed just hours before at the Boxing Day win over Brighton was sadly all gone by the time the Wendies rolled into town.

The two teams probably wanted to stroke the ball about and give the crowd a bit of entertainment but the rapidly collapsing pitch meant there wasn't much chance of the ball rolling properly.
I dread to think how awful it will be after the storms this week and the FA Cup game at the weekend.

The first half was poor from both sides, though Wednesday were coping better with the conditions.
Precious little happened though and at half time the teams trudged off with the score still 0-0.

The second half started with a bang when Dale Stephens faked to shoot, made the space and blasted past Kirkland.

At 1-0 up, Charlton were far from home and dry.
Wednesday came back and by the end of the game, Charlton were hanging on.

Wednesday had some good moments and on balance of play deserved to end the game with a point.

Despite this, it is most galling to report that Charlton managed to repel all the Yorkshiremen attacks, except one, that was as clear as day offside.

The referee and the linesman must have been picking their noses as it was a simple, clearcut, obvious no brainer, made all the easier by the 'goal' scorer turning to look at the linesman, obviously expecting a flag before starting his celebration.
We can't blame Wickham, he just poked the ball over the line, it was the officials who made the mistake.

There were some poor decisions all afternoon but only the one that really changed the result of the game.

Later, with both teams hoping for a winner, the officials made another howler that seemed pretty amazing at the time after Kirkland made a fine save.

Semedo was busy congratulating Kirkland on his stop and all the players were busy positioning themselves for a corner.
Yet somehow a goal kick was signalled!

The North, East and even the West stand erupted with anger as everyone, (except the people who really mattered) could see what had happened.
It was just another example of the officials making a hash of it.

We can't blame the officials for our inability to get the ball into the opposition net and we can't blame the officials for our team deciding they'd be quite happy with a draw with 15+ minutes still to play.

Church missed a bit of a sitter so close to the end Wednesday wouldn't have time to respond but it just wasn't to be.

When all is said and done, four points from two home games isn't a terrible return.

Bore Draw

Charlton Athletic 0 - Blackpool 0

Today was not a classic, by any stretch of the imagination but Charlton can at least say a clean sheet has finally arrived.

Ben Hamer wasn't really called into action too much in the Charlton goal but the West Country custodian must gain some confidence from the shut out, especially as his performances have been under the microscope lately.

Last weekend, I couldn't see us winning a point before the International Break so two draws against fancied opposition isn't a bad return.

Today was a game nobody really deserved to win or lose.
It was dull, dull, dull.

I think Charlton will be happier with the point than Blackpool who surely must have arrived at The Valley, looked at our team sheet without Kermorgant, Solly, Jackson and Cort and reckoned it was a fine time to avenge the two defeats we inflicted upon them last season.

There was plenty of huff and puff from both sides but real, proper, attempts on goal were at a premium.

Other than Jordan Cousins long shot, that Gilks managed to push onto the post, Charlton were pretty toothless.
Church ran and ran (and ran) but nothing fell for him.
Sordell got into some good positions but in general, he just made me wonder why anyone felt the need to put a £3M price tag on him and Harriot tried hard, yet seemed outmuscled by the well drilled Seasiders.

Blackpool's large defence made sure all the long balls hoofed up front were repelled with ease.
We certainly missed the pugnacious Kermorgant.

At the other end, Wilson, Morrison and Wood were keeping the highly regarded Ince under wraps.

Both teams cancelled each other out.

Hardly a game to live long in the memory but it's a point I didn't expect, so I'm not complaining, (unlike the prize twazzock who was sitting behind us in the East stand).

He moaned from 3pm onwards, without cease.
He didn't seem to recognise many of our players and had very little of note to say other than the reds are "just not good enough" and "laughably poor", while exclaiming with disgust at every perceived misplaced pass or fumbled control.
It went on and on.
 He was having a horrible time, obviously hating every minute of his time at The Valley.

A man of such lofty standards must surely dress in the finest suits, live with a Miss World, dine out at Michelin starred restaurants while driving a DB9 to his obscenely highly paid job, before heading home to his luxury mansion.
His cover as an Old Man Steptoe clone was a masterstroke when trying to blend in.

The 100% support of Tuesday night was a distant memory around our parts today, mostly thanks to Moaning Mike.

I do hope he's not going to be a regular feature of home games.

Flukey Win

Charlton Athletic 1  - Notts County 0


This won't take long.

I said to a friend last night, if I think back to the hundreds and hundreds of Addicks games I've seen over the years, our encounter with Notts County yesterday would probably fall into the bottom 10 games.

It really was that bad.

The first half was woeful beyond belief with individual errors being compounded by bad decisions from both players and officials.

Both teams were pretty poor but if anyone deserved to be in front at the break it was County.

The much maligned Lee Hughes, fluffed his chances to stick one on those members of our crowd who were in no mood to forgive him for returning so speedily to his football career after taking a life and serving time in the Big House.

Hughes could have been back in the changing room at half time with 2 goals under his belt, or even a hat trick but for a lineman's flag.

Charlton were so bad I was regretting my decision not to buy a programme.
I attempted to check my emails but the signal in the East stand was so poor it took nearly 4 minutes for one to load.
It was still more entertaining than anything on the pitch.

The second half was more of the same.

Perhaps a turning point was Lee Hughes, (yes him again), blasting an undisputed penalty straight down the middle, only for Robbie Elliott to send it over the bar with a trailing leg.

With around ten minutes to go, Benson and Abbott were withdrawn for Akpo Sodje and new boy Joe Anyinsah.

Suddenly Charlton looked as if they'd been given a caffeine boost and were more lively than at any time all afternoon.

Racon, who had come on for the very, very disappointing McCormack at half time, sent a pass through to Anyinsah who (skillfully?) managed to blast the ball through the onrushing keeper's legs.

1-0 up after being absolutely appalling for about 80 minutes.
It's a funny old game.

The referee became very annoyed at Reid and Racon who held the ball in the corner to eat up added on time.
He became so annoyed, he decided not to award another corner they had won and gave a goal kick which lead to a rather lardy looking Ben Burgess having a last gasp chance to equalise.
Luckily for Elliott, he headed into his arms.

I don't think anybody at the game yesterday would believe the best team won.
I'd have been happy with a draw, such was the lack of ideas.

A Casual Rating

What a load of rubbish!
Our entire team, except Robbie Elliott, are being awarded the dreaded Primark novelty slogan tee shirt for the first half display. It was so bad, I'm struggling to find the words.
The Lacoste polo is being awarded to new boy Joe Anyinsah for his debut goal, we really didn't deserve.
Robbie Elliot can have one too for his penalty save.

It's my birthday today so we are going to pretend we are tourists and take the boat from Greenwich into town.

It'll be better entertainment than yesterday I hope.