A New Year.

Firstly, I really do need to say a huge thanks to everyone who has taken the time to glance at my words over the last 12 months.

I extend the thanks to include the supporters of other clubs, (even Leeds United!) and those supporters of Charlton who have seen fit to put me in my place when I've written something they disagree with.

This is just a bit of fun for me, it's certainly not my job, which means I can choose to post something whenever I want but also I can leave it alone if I can't be bothered.

2013 had fewer posts from me than any year since I started this blog.
Sometimes life and beer do get in the way!

Charlton's 2014 started in exactly the same way as 2013.
A celebratory knee slide across the turf to the dismay of an opposition's groundsman.

Jackson grabs a point for the Addicks, 2014

Ipswich Town 1 - Charlton Athletic 1.

Last New Year's Day, I was at Watford to witness Captain Jackson score the winning goal for Charlton.
Other than when fellow blogger Al got 'the call' late in the evening and had to leave the pub we were celebrating in, ashen faced, it was an all round perfect day.

Jackson milks it at Watford, 2013

This time, I was all alone, listening in to the game while looking out of the window at the filthy weather.
The 2014 Jackson goal was still celebrated by me but it was with a convivial raising of a mug of Red Bush tea rather than 8 (?) pints of real ale.

Charlton certainly did it the hard way yesterday.

The central figure for the afternoon was former hot shot young gun Premier League referee S. Attwell.

The Premier League realised he wasn't up to the task after some rather eccentric performances and now he's been inflicted upon the Championship.

Is it possible to get nearly every decision wrong?
No, it's not- but he came pretty close!

Very early in the game Ipswich should have had a penalty but Attwell waved play on.

Later, after Charlton had conceded what has become the 'regular' deflected own goal, our referee not only decided that it was a fair challenge on Stewart but also the forward had performed a swan dive and carded him, when everyone else in Portman Road was expecting a penalty for the Londoners.

Coming so soon after the officials had robbed Charlton on Boxing Day, allowing Sheffield Wednesday to equalise from an extremely offside position, there were many Charlton supporters wondering what the FA have against the folk from SE7.

All game, Attwell was busy making a hash of it.  Not always in Ipswich favour, sometimes he messed up to the benefit of Charlton but the theme of the afternoon was the referee was a cock.

Ipswich were eventually given a penalty. It looked to be a correct decision, yet less obvious than the one Charlton were denied.

At this point the afternoon took on a different feeling as Ben Alnwick pooped on Attwell's betting slip and pulled off a remarkable save.

(Red Bush all over the carpet).

Charlton gained belief and as we headed into stoppage time, Jackson was there to plunder a point that had looked quite unlikely for most of the game.

2013 was a good year for me but it was always going to suffer when compared to 2012.

2012 was the year the whole planet came to have a look at this part of London, (and liked what they saw).
If having the Olympics and all the razzmatazz that goes with it within sight of home wasn't impressive enough, good old Charlton managed to outclass the rest of League One and romped to the title.

We had pyro loving parachutists, an opera singer wearing a skirt too tight and a full Valley for the presentation of the L1 Champions trophy.

2012 was amazing but there were times in 2013 I particularly enjoyed.

My Personal Highlights of 2013

1. Seeing The Stone Roses at Finsbury Park.
(This is the highlight of my decade and will only be beaten if The Clash manage to reform, with Joe Strummer somehow coming back Lazarus style, riding on Shergar).

"This Is The One……"

2. Seeing Fleetwood Mac at Madison Square Garden, NYC.

3. Seeing The Who perform at the o2 arena.

4a. Jackson scoring at Watford.
4b. Fuller scoring at Palace, (sadly it went downhill later).

5. Surviving another OFSTED without chinning an inspector or having a breakdown.

Here's to 2014.

Happy New Year everyone.

Smash & Grab

Charlton Athletic 0 - Ipswich Town 1

Much like the action of any impact yesterday, this won't take long.

Ipswich arrived at The Valley and started as if they'd been drinking triple espresso's, chased down with cans of Red Bull on their journey down the A12.

Within 3 or 4 minutes, they'd already won a few corners and forced stand in 'keeper Ben Alnwick to pull off an agility testing double save.

The powerful onslaught was just too much and eventually Smith smashed home a headed goal, from yet another corner.

Ipswich had crushed any chance the Charlton support were going to manage the 3:07pm round of applause, commemorating 21 years since the return to The Valley.
Most people had their heads in their hands, amazed at the one way traffic we'd witnessed.

Had we all nipped off to the pub at that point, we'd have missed very little.

While not exactly parking the bus, Ipswich didn't really force too many chances of note going forward- though they certainly had the best of the first half.

Other than Dale Stephens audacious overhead cross field pass, there was little to get excited about from a Charlton view.

The second half belonged to Charlton but as is becoming a bit of a worry, the ball just wouldn't run when in a dangerous position.

It looked like it was going to be one of those days.

We couldn't blame the officials, our players lack of effort, Ipswich's negative tactics or the state of the pitch as I thought the referee had a fairly good game, (playing advantage when needed), our team huffed and puffed without cease, Ipswich played a 'typical' away team way and the pitch was fine.

Suddenly, for me, the main chance we had all afternoon was snatched away by a terrible decision.

For the entire game, the referee had made a point of letting play continue to see if there was any advantage, before halting the action for a free kick.

Then, in added on time, there was the one time we needed him to do just that and he had other ideas.

With Stewart speeding onto a 1:1 with the Ipswich 'keeper, without a defender in sight, our hapless referee decided he needed to blow his whistle for a Charlton free kick, back in the centre circle.

A massive let off for the Tractor Boys.

Of course, Stewart may have sent the ball over the stands but we'll never know will we?

A game we were about to lose due to our inept finishing suddenly became a game where we had been 'robbed' of a point!

It's the football supporter logic.

Luckily, a few pints of local Hop Stuff at Greenwich after the game was enough to make me revert to the calmer person I'd been before.

Well done to Ipswich.
Captain BirdsEye  Mick McCarthy played his cards just right and we can't really complain at the result.

Grimacing in the Rain

Charlton Athletic 1 - Ipswich Town 2.




The score line hints at a close run game.
It wasn't.

Ipswich were handed the win in the first half by a lukewarm Charlton performance.
They didn't need to raise their game to beat a very poor Charlton effort that lacked any kind of spark.

Congratulations to the Ipswich supporters who made it to the Valley on a day when there were no tube trains running and overland trains were not stopping at Charlton.

We had a similar state of affairs when we played at Portman Road.
On that day the train line between London and Ipswich was being worked on.
I know this effected our turn out, even though it wasn't a nasty rainy day when people might want to stay at home with their families.

We should have been 3-0 down at halftime.

Frimpong made a stupid challenge- just the kind I was warned about by when he arrived by an Arsenal supporting friend- and Lee Martin who made a name for being a Tom Daley when he was on loan at the Valley didn't even need to pretend.

As solid a penalty as you could ask for.
(Nearly as solid as the one we were denied at Sheffield Wednesday).

DJ Campbell fluffed the kick though and we had a huge let off.

The two goals that arrived before the break should all have been defended better.
A bit of pinball in the Charlton penalty box and some sleepy defending meant the Half Time break couldn't come quick enough.

Stephens had our best chance.
A wonderful free kick curled around the wall to hit the base of the post.
Had Lady Luck not deserted us this season, the ball would have come back to an onrushing forward but of course, it returned at just the wrong angle to be useful.

Pritchard and Jackson appeared for the second half.
Jackson could have scored with his first touch.
He was just shaping to nod home an inswinging cross when Fuller got in his way and the chance was gone.

Pritchard was lively and linked up with Haynes well.
Solly had more chances to run forward as Ipswich looked to protect what they had.

When Solly was upended and Haynes stuffed the resulting penalty high into the net Charlton should have pushed on.
Ipswich looked rattled for the next 5 minutes but our players didn't look capable of taking the initiative.

The East stand linesman was in dreamland for much of the game, missing clear touches of the ball to award throws the wrong way and lifting his flag for offside even when defenders were covering.

As rubbish as he was, he had no effect on Charlton being beaten.

Ipswich are one of the weakest sides I've seen this season yet they didn't have to do much to grab the 3 points at the Valley.
They've improved 100% since Millwall Mick took over but I can still see them around the bottom come the end of the season.

Unfortunately, we'll probably be there too but as I said at the start of the season, anything better than relegation is what I'm after.
This is a consolidation season for us.

It's not as much fun as last year when nearly every game was one we were at least likely to win but that's what you get from moving up a division.

So, a poor turn out on a poor day to witness a poor performance.

There'll be better days.
We just have to Keep the Faith and remember what a fantastic season we had last year to get us to this position.

3 Points on the Road.

Ipswich Town 1 - Charlton Athletic 2.

Firstly, I must say I was very impressed with the number of fellow Addicks who made the trip to East Anglia.

The travel gods had made the journey an awkward one by refusing to lay on any trains from London, (unless you were prepared to keep switching between rail replacement bus services).
With this in mind, I used the Charlton 'Valley Away' bus service.

'Away' is a pretty good description of my day.
It did seem as if those people making the decisions were trying their hardest to keep me away from where I wanted to be.

We embarked at Charlton, then instead of heading along the A12 for a nice direct route to Ipswich, we whizzed up to near Stansted airport for a half hour stop over.
We'd only been on the bus 40 minutes when we stopped so unless your bladder is the size of a pea, there was absolutely no need for a break.

I was quite keen to get to Ipswich for a meet up and wander around but apparently this is 'verboten'. You buy a ticket on the bus knowing you are more or less sacrificing any chance of having a look at the place you are visiting.

The time dragged but I was amused by the pictures I was receiving from home. My pocket vibrated time and time again as a new fashion disaster arrived in my inbox.
Top Cat was being dressed in the clothes found at the back of a cupboard. They had originally been bought, many years ago from Build a Bear.

shamefully, not Adidas.

We arrived at Ipswich around 2:20pm and most of the anoraks headed straight to the ground, only about 400 metres away.

I headed to the Waterfront area to have the speediest drink ever and to stretch my legs in the glorious sunshine.

Ipswich does seem to be a really 'liveable' place.

I know I was seeing it at its best but it's a remarkably clean, quiet place with interesting architecture. The town planners of the 60's and 70's don't seem to have completely wrecked it and the previously mentioned Waterfront area is gorgeous.

In all honesty, I can see myself going there for a weekend break when the fixture list allows.

I met up with some of the RoD crowd, who had rather sensibly made the journey by car, and then walked back towards Portman Road.

I like Portman Road.
It's a proper 'football' ground, not one of the identikit bowls we see around the country at places like Boro, Southampton, Reading etc.
There's a sense of history about the place.

However much I like Portman Road, the environment is not worth the quite staggering £34 the away supporters were expected to pay.
I can't make up my mind if they are cunning chancers or disgusting thieves but the hierachy at Ipswich need to take a good hard look at themselves.

I know there are many people who refused to go, purely because they weren't willing to be so obviously fleeced.
When the travel problems are added to the mixture, it was an easy game to miss.

Those of us who did make it were rewarded with a pretty good display from the Addicks.
I've been to see Charlton play at Ipswich many times over the years. Yesterday I found myself in almost exactly the same spot we were when we played there in the Play Off semi in 1998.
An omen?

Who knows but the first half ended 0-0 with Charlton having the lions share of the chances and possession.
From our angle we 'scored' 2 goals but unfortunately the ball slipped the wrong side of the post and hit the side netting on both occasions.

At Half Time we were joined by 'Ted' from the Hungry Ted site and his company seemed to make all the difference.

Jackson scored a belter when it looked as though BWP had missed a wonderful cross.
We jumped about and Ipswich looked crestfallen.

Only a few minutes later, Ricardo Fuller pinched the ball and went on a mazy run, slotting the ball into the far corner.

Charlton went mad but so did Ipswich.
The boos around Portman Road were pretty nasty.

Ipswich looked a beaten side. They lacked ideas and even the moments of good play were coming to nothing when concentration let them down.

A moment of supreme good fortune gave Ipswich a way back into the game when a tame effort from Jason Scotland wrong footed Ben Hamer.
The savage deflection left him no chance.

A combination of poor refereeing decisions, 5 minutes added on time and Ipswich suddenly waking up made the last 10 minutes of the game seem much more stressful than they needed to be.
 Charlton held firm to claim the 3 points that were fully deserved.
Phew!

The team plus Chris Powell came to acknowledge the Charlton support and love was expressed from both parties.

It was then back to the 'Magic Bus' for a Stone Roses marathon on my headphones.

A Casualty Rating
The regularly awarded Lacoste polo is going to Ricardo Fuller.
The injury in training to Yann Kermorgant definitely speeded up his inclusion in the starting line up. His appearances as an impact sub have been very good but I didn't really imagine him starting just yet.
Ricardo ran and ran, scored a goal and looked a handful all game.
Certainly a new Charlton hero has emerged.

My only slight annoyance is I'd attempted to lay a bet on him scoring while on my way up to Ipswich but I lost all internet strength as we headed through the farmlands.

I took that as a sign it wasn't to be and left it.
My original bet on Charlton winning stood but a very small part of me was annoyed when Fuller struck.

The Primark novelty slogan t- shirt award is clear cut.
I rushed back to the bus after the game and sat in my place ready for a speedy exit.

My companions sat too, waiting.

and waiting.

Eventually, two people who had got 'lost' strolled up to climb on board.
By the time they arrived, we were behind all the other people in the carpark and in a long queue to leave Ipswich.
I know the coach users have a reputation for being a bit simple, (in general the people who wouldn't be able to find their way there if they weren't dropped off outside the ground) but I found this ridiculous and also quite disrespectful to other passengers.

I've now realised why Charlton find it necessary to run coaches to places only a few miles away such as Fulham, Brentford, Palace, Milwall etc.

I sat in my seat, looking at the side of the football ground, trying to understand how it was possible to get lost on such a short journey.

Despite this hiccup, it was all worth it and I thoroughly enjoyed the trip to Suffolk.