Shock? Nope.

Colchester United 2 - Charlton Athletic Bistro 1.

I have to be honest here. 

I couldn't raise myself to head to Essex despite the attractive pricing and a relatively easy journey.

What transpired is exactly the kind of performance I was expecting from the current Charlton, under the stewardship of our Interim One.

His record speaks for itself.

It's pony. 

Our club is broken.

In no way was Colchester beating Charlton a shock or an upset. 

Magic of the cup? 

Naah. 

To this end, I gave myself a Charlton holiday and went to visit my mum in her care home. 

Spending time with a person who is a shell of the one I remember is always done with a heavy heart. 

At present it is millions of times preferable to spending any extra cash on Charlton.

Of course, just as you might look at a totally dependent, bed bound Altzheimer's patient and remember the good times, we can all look at the YouTube clips of Charlton's amazing history- the history KM has dismissed as irrelevant to the project The Shareholder has set up.

I refuse to accept the highlight of being a Charlton supporter should now be spotting ex Academy graduates on Match Of The Day. 

I won't be getting all warm and fuzzy as I think of the handful of games they played for us before being sold off ASAP to keep the pockets bulging of our multimillionaire owner. 

(Valley Gold anyone?)

Sorry KM but we deserve better. 

If you wanted that kind of relationship with football fans customers,  your boss should have bought into a League 2 club or below. 

Of course, we may well be a League 2 club before the project is completed, though one with 'Premiership Aspirations' naturally.

Charlton Athletic 2016 is a mess. 

The 'weird' customers have had enough.

Ho Hum.

Charlton Athletic 0 - Colchester United 2.

Charlton lost this evening while never looking in any danger of defeat.

It was just one of those odd games that will statistically occur once in a while.

We won on Saturday against Bournemouth without really 'beating' them. This evening Colchester took all three points and must be wondering how on earth they managed it.

Colchester struck the first blow within the first 5 minutes.
Hamer looked to be a little far off his line but nobody could deny that Wordsworth hit a fantastic long range shot.
Hamer barely moved.

From that moment on, Colchester did little other than try to contain the rampaging Addicks.

Jackson was unfortunate when his own rasping distance shot merely scraped the crossbar, rather than billowing the net.

Chance after chance came and went.

BWP was guilty of missing some good chances but we could tell it was going to be "one of those days" when Kermorgant looked to be about to pull the trigger and equalise, only to fall flat on his face and the chance was gone.

At just 1-0 down, there wasn't a person inside the Valley who didn't believe Charlton were going to finally put a chance away, and get something out of the game.

Unfortunately, once it became 2-0 with around 75 minutes on the clock, the game was up.

Ben Hamer may wish he hadn't come back from his injury quite so fast. This game will not be one he will look back on with fondness.

Hamer can argue he could do little about the first goal, though his positioning was poor.

The second goal was completely down to him making a horlicks of it.

All season long we have been saying he's going to get caught "one day" due to the extra time he takes to clear a ball, when an onrushing forward is approaching.

Tonight was when Ben's luck finally ran out.
He's had some very near misses lately but tonight his clearance smacked into Gillespie and looped back into his unguarded net.

Game Over.

I've never felt less bothered about a proper league game defeat in my life.

We are still top of the league and hopefully, cruising towards promotion.

Well done to Colchester.
Tonight will go down as a famous victory for United but those of us who were present, will know they won while also being second best.
I'm sure their own support would also agree with my assessment.
They'll care not one jot about their performance as they head back up the A12 carrying the 3 points, just as we didn't care on Saturday after robbing Bournemouth.

I'm assuming Chris Powell now has something pretty tasty planned for Notts County this weekend.

A Casual Rating
Chris Solly has come on in leaps and bounds this season.
He is now becoming the darling of the support and with good reason.
He's earned himself tonights Lacoste polo for being my Man of the Match.

Ben Hamer really needs to pop into Primark on the way to training tomorrow morning, to pick himself out a novelty slogan t-shirt.
We all make mistakes. Hopefully Ben will learn from his clanger this evening and work on speeding up his clearances.

Ref Watch.
There were a few penalty appeals that were rather flamboyantly waved away but in general, the referee and his team of linos did ok.

We didn't lose because of the officials that's for sure.

You're Supposed To Be At Home

Colchester United 0 - Charlton Athletic 2.


Colchester United are in trouble.
Last night they hosted a home game, on a warm evening against a team that used to be a bit of a scalp (but now aren't), and they still only scraped 5000 souls into their ground.

Of those 5000, approaching two fifths were visiting supporters so I fail to see how their spanking new stadium can survive as an ongoing business.

It might be on the edge of town, practically on the city limits but the cash involved to build a new stadium, plus the roads to give people the chance to get there is most certainly no minor investment.

*If we build it they will come*
Unfortunately, they haven't.

You're supposed to be at home!
Yes, we are, -well away from the football and sitting on our sofas.

After watching the game last night, I can now see how Colchester United are staying afloat.
They're pumping any available cash into the upkeep of the stadium which leaves the price of a pair of decent trousers to go towards the playing staff.

Bad times if you support Colchester.

Last night Charlton were in control from beginning to end.

BWP- (he's better than Shaun don't you know?) has quite rightly been singled out for his two goals but it really felt like a team performance.

When a player lost the ball they bust a gut trying to win it back. When Colchester were in possession, players were diving in to stop them and when their forwards got into shooting positions, players were getting their bodies in the way to block.

We used to sing about a team of Stevie Browns. Last night it felt like it had arrived.

The goals were 'good' goals rather than defensive errors to be pounced upon.
Young Bradley played a gorgeous one - two with Waggy for his first goal and Hayes showed what a tremendous asset he is going to be to set up the second.

At half time, I assume Chris Powell said to keep it tight, as in the second half there wasn't the fluidity of play but still there were opportunities to score more goals.
Only the 'Man of the Match' Cousins, in the home goal, stopped the score becoming a bit of a pasting with some excellent saves.

It felt good last night.

Ok, so we are top of the league but nobody is handing out any medals in August.
We've had good starts before but on those occasions, last year for example, it always felt like we were getting away with it rather than playing other teams off the park.

This year, the crowd are with the team and the team seem to be playing as, well, a team!

We had Captain Cleanshorts near us in the crowd, supporting his old club.
Jason Euell came on as a late substitute for Hayes, (pleasingly Jason is still wearing his own version of shorts, the billowing past the knee version).

Danny Green made his debut, with 5 minutes to go, in place of BWP and Hughes replaced Stephens five minutes before that.
All the players slotted in nicely and seemed to know where they were supposed to be playing.

With everything going so well, I'd normally assume we are going to get a bit of a mauling on Saturday, (this is Charlton after all) but somehow the bubble hasn't been burst yet for me.

i can see us winning again on Saturday, and I hope the feel good factor remains.

What a great evening of entertainment laid on by the Addicks last night.
A repeat performance next time out please.

A Casual Rating.
Lacoste polos are going to BWP and Paul Hayes. For me, they were stand out players though as I said above, it was a team performance which was most enjoyable.

The Primark novelty slogan t- shirt goes to whoever orders the refreshments at Colchester.
Did they not realise Charlton would be bringing more than a taxi full of people?

All the counter staff were very friendly and helpful but it seemed rather odd to be eating the last, much trumpeted, 'Chicken Balti Pie', approximately an hour and a half before kick off.

I'm sorry if you wanted one last night.
(It was lovely as well).

Ref Watch.
Nothing to report here.
No decisions that turned the game, just your typical third class referee for a regular tier 3 game.
Oliver Langford may have been a little harsh when giving Robbie Elliot a yellow for time wasting but we will most certainly have worse officials this season.

Farce Times.

Charlton Athletic 1- Colchester United 0.

Bradley Wright, Wright, Wright, (Phillips) scored a fantastic debut goal this evening.
He hooked the ball over his shoulder and into the far corner of the net but unfortunately for him, it won't be the talking point tomorrow morning.

What on Earth went on there then?

It would now seem that perhaps the 'correct' decision was given but at the time, I felt Colchester had been shafted.

*You may want to skip this bit, it does go on....and on.
The ball ended up in the Charlton net, the ref seemed to have a bit of a concern about giving the goal, he chatted to his (male) assistant, the goal was awarded, the goal was announced over the tannoy and celebrated wildly by the away supporters, the 'nicest man in football' went off on one, the Charlton players surrounded the referee, the fourth official became involved, the referee went for another chat with his assistant and FINALLY the 'goal' was chalked off.

What a palaver eh? Mass confusion all around the ground and head shaking were the strongest memories of that particular passage of play.

I've since heard that the referee blew his whistle in the build up to Colchester's 'goal' but at the time, I was completely clueless.

A 1-0 win was the end result though I do feel more than a little sympathetic towards Colchester and their supporters.

A Casual Rating
Bradley Wright Phillips can have a welcome to the Valley Lacoste polo shirt for his tireless running and spectacular goal.
Well done BWP.

Alan McCormack is also receiving a brand new polo for his last minute, (7th minute of added on time) clearance from a Dave Mooney effort.
I'd already decided the ball was in so he certainly saved the 2 extra points.

The Primark novelty slogan tee shirt is not being awarded this time.
Nobody had a stinker.

Ref Watch.
I haven't quite decided if this was an extreme case of a referee using his common sense and finally arriving at the correct decision or if it was an absolute shambles.
I suppose the Colchester supporters have already made their decision!
What I do know is that he certainly made an impression this evening.

Charlton Ath. 1 - Colchester United 0

YEEEES!

A loud Valley witnessed a pulsating game involving two teams playing on the edge this evening.

The referee threatened to lose control many times but seemed to just about keep a lid on things.

Returning ex-Addick, Kevin Lisbie, was the unlikely recipient of an injury time straight red card to go with a previously earned yellow.

Earlier in the game, I had been fairly sure that neither team was going to finish with 11 men.

The goal was a mixture of high skill and good fortune.

Lloyd Sam twisted and turned so much while approaching goal, the covering defender tied himself in knots and fell over.
He didn't get up, leaving Sam free to deliver the killer cross for Forster to powerfully head past the 'keeper.
Unfortunately, the defender then had to be stretchered off, receiving warm applause from all parts of the ground.

The rest of the game was a nervy affair for most of us, - we really needed a second goal to ease the tension.

Five, (FIVE?) minutes of added on time, included the usual obligatory couple of moments where it looked like we were going to throw it away, not least when Colchester appeared to miss an open goal with almost the last kick of the game.

The relief when the referee finally blew his whistle was clear for all to see.
Supporters and players celebrated 3 valuable points that really shouldn't have been in doubt but as we know, nothing ever goes completely to plan at Charlton!

A Casual Rating
The Lacoste polo shirt is being awarded to Jose Semedo.
Another accomplished performance from our Portu geezer. He soaked up most of the Colchester attacks and managed to usually be just in the right place to put in important blocks.

The Primark novelty slogan tee shirt is going to Aidy Bothroyd and his long ball, hoof it style of play.
Yawn.
Both teams spent long periods of the game looking upwards, waiting for the ball to come down again from the sky.

However, in all honesty, I enjoyed tonight's game more than any other I've been at for months.

Lets hope it's the start of a really enjoyable few weeks for Charlton Athletic.

Colchester Collapse

The Charlton support played their part, showing up in numbers and selling out the away end at Colchester United.

Unfortunately, a mad minute around the half hour mark when 2 goals were conceded, more or less killed any realistic chances of Charlton gaining the 3 points most of the Addicks had hoped for, or in many cases, expected.

The unbeaten record has now vanished. It was never going to last forever and the team should be highly commended for keeping the run going for so long.

I think it's fair to say that whatever could go wrong, went wrong this evening.

After some pleasing early passages of play by the Addicks, Llera managed to undo all the good work by heading the ball into his own goal, much to the dismay of Rob Elliot.

Less than a minute later, Charlton were 2 down when Kayode Odejayi doubled the U's lead.

The second half was a poor performance by the reds. Odejayi scored his second goal, (the Colchester third), around the hour mark.

Charlton were second best for the rest of the game.

The hapless Llera was substituted for Sam Sodje, McLeod swapped with Spring but it was clearly not going to be our night.

All teams lose, it's how you react to the loss that's important.

Chelsea lost their unbeaten record last weekend but they are still a good side.

Charlton are also still a good side at this level. The trip to Yorkshire in a few days time to visit Leeds United is a fantastic opportunity to get the winning feeling back.

The pressure is off.

We aren't expected to get much at Elland Road while a visit to Colchester had the pundits expecting a goal fest.

They got one, just not in the way we had hoped.

Even if we lose at Leeds it's not panic stations. it's a long season and there are plenty more points to be played for.