Time Bandits.

Charlton Athletic 1 - Tranmere Rovers 1.


A well drilled Tranmere team came to the Valley and did a job on us that could have grabbed all three points.

They were by far the better side all through the first half, creating swift attacks from the opening minutes while Charlton never really got going at all.

The goal they surely deserved, had a touch of good fortune when a shot from the left deflected off Chris Solly, giving Hamer no chance.

Crispy had another of his Nostradamus moments, pronouncing that he could see them scoring soon, only about 4 seconds before they did!

At the time, it looked like a wonder strike as we couldn't see the deflection from our angle.
Whatever the method of the ball entering the net, it was just the kick in the pants the Addicks needed to raise the energy levels.

Unfortunately, the much called for improvement didn't materialise.

Despite their vastly superior efforts, Tranmere had obviously decided that should they sneak an away goal, they were going to kill the game with time wasting, niggly fouls, pushing off the ball and generally being annoying gits.

Half time came and Chris Powell had an opportunity to lay into his charges.

Green and Kermit had been given the nod over Wagstaff and Hayes. Other than these two players, it was the same side who had weathered the first half storm at Sheffield, before running away with it in the second.
Green still seems to be suffering from his virus but I was quite impressed with our Breton boy. He won header after header and is gradually forming an understanding with BWP.

Could we have another good second half to grab the 3 points?

BWP didn't have one of his better days. He was clobbered early in the game and visibly jarred his back. He wasn't running too well afterwards and perhaps this effected his game.

Our team tried harder in the second half, the crowd woke up and there was more of a buzz around the Valley.
Unfortunately, the blatant time wasting and Tranmere gamesmanship was ruining any kind of tempo.

I had my own Nostradamus moment when I announced I thought we'd need a penalty to score as we didn't seem to be creating enough.
Within 5 seconds we had one!

I had little idea what the penalty was for, - there was so much pushing and shoving going on in the area I missed the incident but I was very thankful.

Jackson stepped up but I became more and more convinced he was going to fluff it as the Tranmere players performed their well rehearsed jiggery pokery to put him off.

They had players stand in the area blocking the ball, they then started a long discussion with the referee, they also tried to start conversations with Jackson.
 The referee could and should have yellow carded at least 5 players, not least the goalkeeper who refused to retreat to his line but he seemed to have lost control.
Once the ball had finally been placed, it was picked up and taken away by the keeper...... it went on and on.

Never have I wanted a penalty to be scored more.

Jackson stuffed the ball in the net and surely we were up and running?

Well, no.
Charlton created more, were more lively down the wings after the introduction of Waggy but Tranmere's  time wasting was getting everyone so frustrated, it was making our team rush when in reality there was plenty of time to score a winner.

BWP had a glorious opportunity to stuff it to the cheating Tranmere but scuffed his chance from only a metre out.

We could have lost the game of course.
A calamity at the back, involving a Norman Wisdom style collision, left the ball spinning away goalwards but luckily none of the Tranmere players were able to reach it, to tuck it into the unguarded net before it went out for a corner.

I left the Valley feeling a little flat.
Then I remembered we are still top of the league and unbeaten. There will be many, many teams who would love to swap places with us.

I'm hoping next weekend at Stevenage will be a game when our team 'click' and give the opposition a bit of a lesson.
Whatever happens, it'll be better than my last (only?) visit to the town.
 I ended up at the Lister hospital with snapped ligaments when 'helping out' at a campsite event for kids and falling in a rabbit hole!

I shall watch my footing carefully.

A Casual Rating.
My Lacoste polo is going to Jackson for keeping his cool to convert the penalty while madness seemed to be going on all around.
Well done JJ.
I'd like to add another award to Kermit Kermogant who is adding touches of class. Once his team mates work out where his flick ons are going, our attacking play will have another dimension.

The Primark novelty slogan t - shirt is going to the whole Tranmere team (except the impressive Showamuni) - but especially the goalkeeper Fon Williams.

What a horrible, horrible cheating team.

Tranmere Time Team.

Charlton Athletic 1 - Tranmere Rovers 1.

First the positives.

I left the Valley this evening feeling quite passionate about what I had just witnessed. 

I cared. 

I'd got my Charlton mojo back.

The first half today was as dire as anything I have witnessed at the Valley, or indeed, anywhere else while watching Charlton.

Our team were clueless and mistakes were rife across all areas of the pitch.

Tranmere took the lead after a terrible Francis error let Enoch Showunmi in on goal to score easily.

I've tried to blank out that first half but if I check back on my texts and tweets I can recall Elliott nearly throwing the ball into his own net and late on, Paul Benson heading over the bar.

Despite what the television highlights might show, what was really going on was the most appalling 'tactics' I've seen in ages by an opposing team.

Tranmere came expecting a draw, or possibly a win if they fluked a goal to defend.

They began time wasting with less than TEN minutes of the first half having been played, falling to the floor theatrically and killing the game whenever possible.

Their way of playing can be labelled quite easily.

If they are your team, you'd say they are perhaps wily, professional or adept at gamesmanship.

For everybody else it's known as cheating.

How long does it take to perform a goal kick, throw in or free kick?

If you play for Tranmere, you could easily take up nearly a minute for each of these.

The players had obviously been instructed to get the multi ball system cancelled by the referee. They walked away from balls thrown to them, then picked up a second ball ensuring there were 2 balls on the pitch. This happened so often our inept referee was eventually forced to act in their favour.

At half time, I was very close to heading home.

As ever, some misguided feelings of loyalty / stupidity kicked in and I remained in a rather glum East stand.

The second period was much better from a Charlton perspective. 

Most of the game was played in the Tranmere half but there was a general feeling we were playing not only against the Tranmere divers but also Ray Charles and David Blunkett wearing the officials uniforms.

Blunkett (in front of the East stand), had managed to perfect a 'Hoxton fin' style ridiculous haircut but found it impossible to notice regular pushes in the back or on one memorable occassion, an elbow in the rear of Alan Mac's head, despite it occurring only a few feet in front of him.

Charlton reached parity through a rocket style free kick from big Mig Llera.

 It seemed to change direction on the way into the back of the net but it was always going in, regardless of the attentions of the Tranmere defenders.

I guessed only one team were going to push on and win it at that stage. Charlton had the momentum and the sparse crowd woke up.

We'd not factored in the time wasting and crud officials though.

It sounds like the moaning of a disgruntled supporter who only sees what he wants to see but on another day, Charlton would have had two penalties, possibly three.

Challenges, (or attempted shirt removal in one case and a handball in another) that most certainly would have been given as a foul elsewhere on the pitch were waved away by our hapless man in black.

In truth, it really shouldn't have mattered though as there was one moment, with only a couple of minutes left to play, where the game should have been put to bed.

An in swinging cross from the right, managed to elude three on rushing Charlton players who all seemed to be just the thickness of their boot leather from the glancing touch over the line.

I witnessed a Tranmere defender crossing himself and glancing to the heavens such was their good fortune.

So, a point is gained but it really should have been 3 based on our second half performance, or zero based on our first.

The announced attendance of 14,015 is nowhere near the number of people who actually put their bum on a seat. Those who did come along hopefully don't feel as downbeat as they did after Tuesday.

Have they seen enough to bring them back next week?

Time will tell.

A Casual Rating.

Tranmere should be ashamed of themselves. 

They have zoomed to the top of my most hated teams list.

I've never really had a 'list' before so the piece of paper only has one name on it but you get my point.

Tranmere Rovers. What a bunch of cheats.

Miguel Llera is claiming the Lacoste polo after today's game. He was fairly solid at the back, (he did lose possession in a rather dangerous position once but everything is relative - he only did it once!).

He's been spending match days elsewhere lately so it was great to see him come back and cap his performance with a goal.

I've seen Mig more times lately in Sainsbury's on the peninsula than I have on the Valley pitch.

Welcome back Mig. 

Ref Watch.

D.Coote.

What. A. Load. Of. Rubbish.

A charitable 1/10 for his 'performance'.

Trannies Leave Charlton Limp

Charlton Athletic 1 - Tranmere Rovers 1.

It was bloody cold yesterday and our 'heroes' put me in a bad mood.

Tranmere started where Hartlepool and Leyton Orient had left off, making our side look ordinary and devoid of ideas.

The early season panache has now vanished and we are playing with a fear that it's all going to go pear shaped any moment now.

Tranmere, (obviously from their league position), are no great shakes. Despite this, they had done their research and placed speedy full backs on either side and really gave the impression of wanting to take something from the game.
They believed they could too.

The first half was dire.
Tranmere barely registered an attack and we fluffed our only guilt edged chance when Burton shot tamely as the half time whistle approached.

Rob Elliot had not made it through to half time after being clattered by Sodje. Robbie was able to walk from the pitch but he was struggling with a leg injury. It remains to be seen how serious the knock is. Elliot must surely be in doubt for the visit to Walsall later this week.

The second half started with the now, worryingly familiar goal, conceded as many supporters were still settling themselves down after their halftime stretch of the legs.

A freak goal yes, but 'top teams' don't seem to concede them do they? This was no Liverpool beach ball goal - neither Sodje or Randolph could do much about it, however the defence did seem to go to sleep.

At 1-0 down the reds powered back and equalised through Nicky Bailey. There was plenty of time to go on and win the game but again, too many misplaced passes and our midfield being totally bypassed at times made the whole job very tricky.

Debutant winger Reid had been playing well but was visibly tiring.
 He hasn't played much lately for Sheffield United and he is likely to be needed for the game on Tuesday.
Despite what seems a fairly obvious conclusion, when he was replaced there was a moan of disapproval, then boos and finally a loud chorus of "You don't know what you're doing!", from some of the intelligentsia in the Upper North.
Tranmere must have been given a boost from our public barracking of our own team.
Reid was playing well but he is ours until the end of the season so there's no point in crocking him now.

Wagstaff replaced Sam but due to the replacement goalkeeper, no other tweaks to the side were possible.  Mooney obviously expected to be leaving play as he started to run off before noticing his shirt number was not the one on the board.

The end of the game was a mess.
Tranmere missed an absolute sitter, then hit the underside of the crossbar.
A huge let off for the Addicks who then went straight up the other end and could / should have put the game to bed with 3 opportunities that each had me already celebrating the 'goal'.
Bum.

Norwich and Leeds are moving out of sight and we are now playing to consolidate our Play Off place.
The worrying part about that picture is the way we have been playing lately, we'd struggle to beat anyone in such a high pressure environment.
As it stands, we'd be playing Millwall over two legs.
We know how that particular story ends I'm sure.

We were told to expect a 'reaction' from the team after the Orient debacle.
I'm still waiting.

I was in a bad mood when I returned home, not because we'd failed to beat lowly Tranmere. On another day we'd have been soundly beaten.
I was in a bad mood due to our belief we only needed to show up to win. There were too many champagne passes that didn't come off instead of the basic ball to feet, maintaining possession.

Perhaps away from the increasingly hostile atmosphere at the Valley, the team will get a chance to flourish.
Let's hope so, starting on Tuesday.

A Casual Rating
A Lacoste polo is being awarded to Fraser Richardson who looked sound throughout and generally played the simple ball whenever possible.
The Primark novelty slogan tee shirt is being awarded to
a) all our players who kept passing the ball back to Rob Elliot when he was injured, forcing him to kick with his injured leg.
b) those in the Upper North, and elsewhere, who so publicly and hastily got nasty. It's not big or clever and when push comes to shove, we are a THIRD class team so there's no point in expecting Premiership quality.
It's one thing to boo Jimmy Floyd Piggybanks for lack of effort but totally another to crush young players who need our support. If they are worried to fail, there's no point in trying.
We need all our players to try.
There was a 'togetherness' between players and supporters at Wycombe.
We need to return to that state of affairs and it's not going to happen if we knock our own team.

"LET'S GET BEHIND THE ADDICKS!"