Mind Your Language

Transfer deadline day, Sky Sports very own Christmas Day but not an occasion when Charlton were ever likely to get everything they wanted.

As our new owner started pulling strings yesterday with the sale of Dale Stephens to Brighton and Hove Albion, it was inevitable that talismanic striker Yann Kermorgant would follow the midfielder out of The Valley today. What we didn't expect was the departure of Ben Alnwick on top.

Stephens, a player linked last year with Aston Villa, was having a good season with the Addicks. The Jekyll and Hyde of the team, you never knew quite which Dale Stephens would be playing, the tactical reader of the game that could run the midfield or the ineffectual onlooker who looked both lazy and out of his depth. When the Premier League side from Birmingham came sniffing it was widely reported that the player was homesick and was desperate for a move closer to home. Born in Bolton, it appears the poor lad had his map upside down whilst speaking to the Seagulls.

We knew Bournemouth, the club, wanted Yann, the supporters according to Twitter far less convinced about the acquisition. This morning he broke the hearts of the Charlton faithful and that of the manager Chris Powell too by passing a medical on the south coast and signed on the dotted line for an undisclosed fee. A two and a half year contract with a decent wage is a cracking deal for the 32 year old; he obviously hid his financial delight and security when posing for the obligatory photo holding aloft the new shirt. With a scoring rate of a goal every three games, it was no surprise that Roland Duchâtelet offered the Frenchman a new two year deal himself but something obviously wasn't right for the player, rumours suggest it may have been the long term prospects for Powell that tipped the scales. I believe it was more likely the wage packet.

Ben Alnwick's permanent move to Leyton Orient was a complete surprise. The keeper has had a good little run in the first team since Ben Hamer's injury and did his reputation no harm at all gaining perhaps too many plaudits along the way. We can't of course compare him yet to new stopper Yohann Thuram-Ulien but I would certainly have rather seen Hamer be the goalkeeper to be shown the exit door over Alnwick. As things stand however it could be a good move for the keeper, it may well prove to be a safer bet on securing involvement in Championship football next season.

Three out then, three first team members too, yet with only four hours left of the window I don't think we'll see more departures. With Yann going and young Joe Pigott going on loan to Gillingham, the act of scoring the goals required to secure our future at this level fell to Simon Church, Marvin Sodall and Iranian international Reza Ghoochannejhad. Simeon Jackson, a player we were rumoured to be linked with, appears to be going to Millwall so it's another foreign newcomer that we pin our hopes on.

Piotr Parzyszek, a young Polish striker passed a medical (and the barbers judging by the state of his Barnet) today to become the sixth foreign import to join the club this month. Signed from Dutch side De Graafschap, surprisingly not a member of the Duchâtelet empire, young Piotr has promisingly been prolific at a very good level of football.

Interest in Rhoys Wiggins has been put to bed with the full back penning a new deal at the club, more encouraging than another new signing, especially when you now consider how many languages will now be spoken in the dressing room.

The problem may well be lack of communication, it's a well known fact that any group of players need time to gel even when they all understand each other. There is certainly no time for Chris Powell to take them on one of his favourite jaunts to Spain this time. One thing is for certain, with us sitting uncomfortably in the bottom three Roland may have to act quickly and put his hands in his pockets to fund a few emergency English lessons.

Johnnie Jackson to play Doctor Who?

Johnnie Jackson and New Years Day, they go together like sofas and Doctor Who. Remember the look of unadulterated passion on the face of our skipper twelve months ago during that epic encounter at Vicarage Road? Move forward a year to the day and he's back at it, doing what a captain does best, wearing his heart on his sleeve and rescuing a point. We may not yet need to hide behind him like you would a sofa, but quiz many an Addick with reference to New Years Day and our sergeant-at-arms could well be the first words uttered.

I confess I was not one of the travelling supporters this time around, I had hand picked a Sutton United away fixture to lug my tiresome frame to, knowing full well I was going to welcome the New Year in inebriated fashion. Hayes & Yeading was the destination, or more precisely Woking where they currently ground-share.

I stupidly hadn't factored in this diabolical weather we're enduring, unsurprisingly meaning a waterlogged pitch like the majority of not only the Conference South but most non league football in the bottom half of the country. An announcement of postponement at eleven o'clock meant last ditch plan alterations. The scooter wasn't going anywhere, I took the soft option and went for a televised game between Paul Benson's Luton Town and Barnet, completely farcical by half time on a pitch far worse than ours was for that infamous Doncaster game. The Luton players, at two up at the interval, interestingly never felt the need to appear with forks though.

The pitch at Portman Road despite the persistent rain was more than playable and the seven hundred or so that made the journey were guaranteed a game to watch. Being in the heartland of the tractor, it would have been nothing less than common decency to have returned with a few tips on how to get the best out of our own playing turf. Whether that be knowledge on grass maintenance or, as a last resort, pointers on growing vegetables and crop rotation.With more rain forecast for the week ahead, Charlton have arranged a pitch inspection prior to Friday lunchtime for Saturday's FA Cup visit of Oxford. They may well incorporate one for the following weekend's league visit of Barnsley while they're at it.

Charlton's team sheet rang the changes in along with the New Year, both first choice full backs returning and Bolton loanee Marvin Sodall starting up front in place of Simon Church, chastised for his late miss against Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday. From all accounts Sodall did slightly more than his name implies before limping off with a presumed hamstring injury just before halftime. Could this be held accountable due to a lack of regular football? Again I highlight the shortfall of the absence of a reserve side.

The Bolton man, playing what could be his last moments for us should Wanderers, as has been suggested, somehow want him back, was replaced by Jordan Cook who leapfrogged Church from the bench. Michael Smith is due back from AFC Wimbledon this month, how he must be rubbing his hands together.

Having been beaten by Ipswich at the end of November, for a long time it looked like the Suffolk outfit would do the double over us. Halfway through the first half Richard Wood turned an Ipswich cross past his own keeper and, on top of this, as usual the officials did their best to halt our progress.

Cameron Stewart, also playing what may well be his last football for the club was brought down in the area just as he went to shoot. Rather than being awarded the 'stonewall' penalty it warranted, our tricky midfielder was booked for diving. It wasn't the only penalty decision of the day to impact the match. Ipswich had had a reasonable shout themselves ignored earlier but Stuart Attwell did finally give way and gave the hosts a chance to double their lead ten minutes from time.

Ben Alnwick superbly touched the ball onto the post and away for a corner. Still 1-0 and with renewed belief Charlton made their final change and Captain Marvel entered the fray.

With the ninety minutes already up, Kermorgant and Church (who came on himself for a twenty minute cameo) lined up Jackson for a shot from the penalty spot which, although cleanly struck, needed a deflection to beat the keeper. The 'arms outstretched knee-slide' from twelve months earlier was replicated, the relief and devotion as heartfelt as ever. We drew, but we felt like we won and we remained unbeaten over Christmas.

There has been no more talk of Roland Duchâtelet and his proposed takeover as I write, but if he is still debating a proposal he can rest assured that, yes he may be buying a bottom six club, but he'll be buying one built through fervour and that refuses to lie down.

You only sing when you're ploughing.

Is there a true, honest to God, football fan that truthfully begrudges losing to a better team? At QPR last Saturday the home teams quality shone though even though they had a (relatively) off day and yet they still picked up the three points. We battled, gave it our all, but still left with nothing to show for our endeavors. Were we bitter? Of course not, we had our pride intact and lost to a team whose salary reflected their ability. So seven days later that pride and belief, which had already been showcased in a tip-top performance against Doncaster on Tuesday, would again come to the fore and we would rejoice in a much needed second successive home win.

Trouble is, it didn't really go according to plan. Nobody could question Chris Powell in fielding the same eleven that ripped Doncaster to shreds midweek, and perhaps you could even argue that lady luck didn't really shine her torch on us today, but nothing hides the fact that for the first five minutes this afternoon we were still mentally in the dressing room.

Even before Ipswich got their goal Ben Alnwick was called into producing two good stops. I even said to those around me that it was probably good for the keeper to be called into duty early before he possibly had the chance to be a touch complacent.

It was to be the only goal, but my gripe is at the fact that Ipswich were never really in the game after that. We certainly didn't lose to the better team, maybe just the braver one.

Our ball into the final third of the pitch was always delayed, players looking for the safe option rather than taking a more direct approach. I can't quite remember seeing quite so much head tennis in the middle of the park, never resulting in Charlton gaining any ground. There was even occasion in the second half when we broke away with seemingly menace only for this attack to result in a sideways pass between our two centre halves less than twenty seconds later!

Ipswich had done their homework well, Jordan Cousins, for example, when receiving the ball on the edge of the box always had two blue shirts on him before he had a chance to swing his leg. The two visiting centre backs kept Church in their pockets whilst dishing Yann Kermorgant a rather tough lesson under the watchful eye of a (rare these days) card shy referee.

Charlton wasted move after move, it was only Rhoys Wiggins that nearly came close at the end of the first half when the keeper struggled to deal with a shot at his near post and nearly claimed an own goal. Danny Green looked lively replacing Jackson, he reminded me a little of Scott Wagstaff last season who needed to shine when the chance came his way. Pigott replaced Church with no real effect, I do wonder why this young lad is not on loan to gain experience and is instead ahead of Michael Smith in our front line pecking order. There was even another cameo for Marvin Sodall although for what good is anybody's guess.

Conceivably one of our clearest opportunities came near the death as Cameron Stewart received the ball via a diagonal cross from Cousins after Kermorgant was cynically hacked down in the centre circle. With only the keeper to beat the referee blew the whistle for the foul on Kermorgant bringing play back to the centre of the pitch. An unbelievably late call, what part of the word advantage he doesn't understand is beyond reason, if I believed that match fixing still occurred these days I'd suspect Ipswich of sweetening this ref with a box of organic home grown root vegetables prior to kick off.

The resulting free kick obviously failed to recreate any chance we may have had and only succeeded in infuriating an already tense situation into a complete free for all. As the players all 'bundled in' the referee should have stepped back and admitted to himself that the blame for these fisticuffs lay solely at his feet.

After the game in West London I predicted we would destroy Doncaster before returning to 'normal service' today. Unfortunately I was proved right, we were over ninety minutes perhaps the slightly better of the two sides yet we never looked like we wanted to be, or more appropriately, believed we should be.

I shall however finish on a positive. Ben Alnwick has been superb for these past two matches. I sincerely hope Ben Hamer has to fight for his place in the team upon his return. If he walks straight back in it will be a travesty, although Hamer is a country boy himself so perhaps he may try the fresh vegetable trick with the gaffer.

If at first you don't succeed......

Bitter rivalries are usually formed through location, although occasionally a heated cup tie or some such event can sow the seeds of animosity. Has a football team ever been hated due to the weather though? Until this season it is unlikely, but biblical downpours and the ability to cope with such dampness have infuriated the supporters of Doncaster Rovers, so that now my Charlton pin badge is about as welcome in that part of South Yorkshire as an Ian Watkins guest appearance at your local school concert.

I'd have a lot more sympathy for the Rovers supporters if their team had turned up last night, although for some reason this fixture was seemingly cursed as a signal fire at London Bridge caused havoc with the transport infrastructure in and out of South East London; in hindsight it's quite fortunate anybody attended at all.

Heading north out of Redhill I was informed of the impending gloom thanks to the very apologetic train driver. My choices were to alight at East Croydon and return from where I had come or show some initiative and battle on with a new resourcefulness and complete my journey to SE7. I chose the latter.

A train to Victoria, the Victoria line to Green Park and then the Jubilee line to North Greenwich and, hey presto, I landed with my feathers none too ruffled. The bus stops here though were heaving with far too many people and I decided a half hour walk was by far the quickest way to complete the final leg, also giving me opportunity to visit the newly opened Pilot Inn for liquid refreshment. It proved a good call as the beer was delicious and I stumbled across a friend, also diverted from his usual route, which made the final walk far quicker and more sociable.

And so I reached The Valley in good time for kick off, quietly smiling to myself that I had defied logic and raced across a standstill rush hour London. Local authorities, police, the railway companies and just about everyone else must be praying one of these sides is relegated in May so we don't have a repeat performance next season.

I was feeling incredibly confident about the game, lightening not striking twice and all that. Doncaster were only going to score three at The Valley the once, we had shown great spirit at Loftus Road on Saturday and if we took that into this game a severe thrashing could be on the cards. Believe me, it's not often I feel quite so confident. Thankfully this was not misplaced.

Charlton were superb last night, their best performances at home always seem to come under the floodlights of an evening game. Even a pre match injury to Ben Hamer didn't detract from our superiority as Ben Alnwick came in for his league debut and did everything right. Yes Doncaster were poor, possibly the worst I've seen in SE7 for some time, but the rookie keeper pulled off a couple of fine stops and kept that all important clean sheet.

Simon Church up front was fantastic. His commitment is second to none, he missed chance after chance but was rewarded with a goal after an hour which he took round the keeper and slotted home very professionally. Quite how he later managed to stand on the ball then fall off it before landing face first in the dirt is quite a mystery though! I took a long time accepting the lad, strange as how Steve Jones is one of my all time favourite Addicks and he too ran all day after everything with very few goals in return. Church had the Donny centre backs worried from the off though and they looked in awe of him whenever he came close by. He's growing in my (highly influential) esteem week by week.

Dale Stephens is a true Jekyll and Hyde footballer, you never know which one is going to turn up, fortunately last night it was the talented player that can read the game, execute the decisive pass and score goals of sheer memorizing genius. Yesterday we were treated to the whole package, a goal that made Charlie Austin's screamer on Saturday look like a poacher's tap in. Helped with the youngsters Stewart and Cousins being both on song and a handful for the disorientated opposition, and Jackson putting in a true captain's shift, our midfield last night looked as good as any I'd seen in this division. Don't panic though, we still had time to throw in a few meaningless sideways passes to keep the purists happy.

Yann Kermorgant got his first full ninety minutes in for a while, and with it a superb chance to steal a goal. Somehow he managed to curl a distance effort in front of an open goal further towards the corner flag than the target. With two goals, two efforts off the woodwork and plenty of other near misses we were fortunate that we didn't depend on our talisman striker doing anymore than improving his match fitness.

So surely there can't be any gripes at all can there? Well, I'm still not convinced with Wilson at full back and there's always Marvin Sordell. He came on for twenty minutes in place of Church and immediately looked more knackered than the enthusiastic front man he replaced. Dragging his heels like he does can't be doing his boots any good at all. Other than that I was full of smiles and more than ready for an attempt to get home.

It must have been the first time I've left the ground and not seen an away fan. The couple of hundred Rovers fans that had made it surely came by coach, those that caught the train must have been fuming when they could get no further prior to kick off.

The trains were now running of sorts, I got to London Bridge as quickly as I would have normally and there was a connection to East Croydon within minutes. My luck stopped here. It took me another hour to reach Redhill and this is still six miles from home. Refusing to wait at least another half hour I resorted to a taxi which I shared with another chap still trying to get home after his days work. He asked me where I'd been; I told him all about Dale Stephens wonder goal.

Needless to say my smile was much larger than his.

The New Defence

While most Charlton eyes spent the week fixed on the 'enthralling' transfer window deadline day, mine were wandering towards the weekend and Non League Day. One Charlton supporter was guaranteed in seeing the New Defence.

Movement wise in SE7 we witnessed the short term arrival of winger and sometimes striker Cameron Stewart from Hull City, a direct replacement for Danny Green who himself was rewarded with a short term loan deal, unfortunately in no man's land at MK Franchise. A much needed goalkeeper, Ben Alnwick, a free agent, has also joined on a one year contract. All of these deals were overshadowed somewhat by the announcement of Chris Solly putting pen to paper on a new four year deal. The cynical amongst us will no doubt notice how much more of an appealing acquisition a football club is when it's best/most valuable players have long term deals.

For those that thrive on all things Charlton Athletic, that was your lot and with no game this weekend due to the international break, a website run August goal of the month competition was not just the pick but all of the excitement on offer. Far better use of everybody's time was the opportunity to watch some grass roots football and make the most of non league day. Football at a personal level and a movement which has gained a new level of popularity and momentum every year since it's inception in 2010.

As a big supporter of non league football, and in particular Sutton United, I was always going to find a match. The U's were playing at Tonbridge Angels in a Skrill South league fixture, I had a cunning plan. My wife's grandparents live in Tunbridge Wells, the idea was to travel there first leave Heidi with her Nan to talk cake recipes, flowers and other female only topics whilst I took her Grandad to the match. On paper it was a winner all round, in reality it was foiled by their itchy feet and their love of a foreign holiday. Drat, thwarted before I began.

Whyteleafe were at home to Greenwich Borough, I watched the Leafe only two weeks ago in their FA Cup victory over Epsom & Ewell and know one or two staunch supporters. This was of course very tempting, if only for the half time beer and catch up, but deep down I knew there was only one game I could really commit to, a ground I'd put off visiting for far too long.

I've lived in Horley for five years, worked here for twice that but never once watched the town's football club. It's not as if they play in a park on a Sunday morning either, the Combined Counties league is of a standard many of us could never have dreamed of achieving ourselves. I nearly made it last year as they hosted Guernsey for a league fixture during the Channel Islanders successful promotion campaign, but the kick off time was altered, I presume to give the away side time to fly home, more irritatingly though to hamper any plans I had of attending.

Today there was no such excuse, I was going to The New Defence, home of Horley Town to watch their FA Vase 1st qualifying round tie with Newhaven.

The good old days of one to eleven

It's ten years since Horley moved to this new ground, and like Millwall it's named after the old one. The Defence I believe is now a housing estate, as are so many football pitches of old, and that original ground was named in honour of people from the town who had died in defence of their country. A worthwhile continuation if ever there was one. The clubhouse is on two levels while adjacent to the football pitch Horley Rugby Club have their own pitch complete with strange shaped goals, the two sports share the amenities. Both were at home today, the rugby finished first and big burly prop forwards watched the final moments of the association game swelling the crowd immensely, I would estimate that we were close to three figures.

I had once been to the clubhouse, four or five years back for a wedding reception. Funnily enough there was one there today too, and with big plate glass windows along one side of the building the guests could watch the match during their meal giving the best man stern competition for people's attention during his speech! A half time beer was very surreal as I looked through the glass door and saw wedding guests sipping champagne.

On the subject of beer, this is my one disappointment of the day. Sutton United keep a great pint of Tribute, Chipstead (who's ground Epsom & Ewell share) a couple of weeks ago kept Youngs perfectly, Horley however cater for lager drinkers as a priority it would appear. I was with my father-in-law, we both enjoy a real ale but were reduced to bottled beer as there wasn't a single hand pump in operation. A small dampener but still far more preferable to a pint of awful fosters in a plastic glass at The Valley!

Shaking hands before the off

The pitch didn't look too bad, fairly even with a nice surface considering the level we were watching and the rain that had fallen during the morning which had stopped prior to kick off allowing us moments of glorious sunshine. A good cup tie was on the cards. Twice Horley took the lead, only to be pegged back quickly. The home side looked very threatening whenever they had a set piece, a very tall centre half caused the Newhaven defence problem after problem and the blue shirted number ten chased absolutely everything. Newhaven though were good on the break, their number seven had both pace and ball control in equal quantities. The two captains, both wearing the number four shirt stood out too, Horley's looked tough and the sort of player to scare the life out of centre forwards whilst Newhaven's was a short lad in the heart of their midfield that looked confident on the ball and always at the centre of their build up play.

Unfortunately the other player to leave a lasting impression was the home side's goalkeeper, it's fair to say he had a mare. At fault for at least two of Newhaven's goals he seemed to flap with not only every cross but every ball played into his area. I need to go back if only to witness that it was just an off day for the lad, I'm sure for next Saturday's FA Cup tie he'll be back to his confident self. There is a photo of him hereabouts shaking hands with the assistant referee before the match started, proof he does have 'Action Man' style gripping hands after all.

Quote of the day went to one of the Newhaven supporters, a father to one of their players I believe although in all honesty they did appear to have a larger contingent of the crowd than the home side did. The Horley number two was stood just in front of us waiting to take a throw in, a teammate of his was on the ground being sponged down by the club physio, a rather attractive looking lady. Needless to say the older gentleman in attendance found this particularly amusing and shouted their wishes for the lady in question to swap sides and return to the coast with them that evening. The full back didn't seem to share their jollity at the situation, one fella shouted an apology to him, "sorry lad, is that your Mum?"

The game finished 6-2 to Newhaven, their Wembley dream is still alive. Through to the next round they may be but it wasn't without controversy, their fourth goal was a belter from twenty five yards out, it hit the woodwork, bounced down and out akin to Lampard's World Cup 'goal'. The linesman gave it although I doubt very much from his position he could have really seen it. A very similar thing happened again a short time later, lightening was never going to strike twice.

After that the Horley defence struggled, they changed their left back for a young lad with impeccable hair, I seriously wondered if he'd head the ball but fair play to him for getting stuck in. All credit to them though, even with the game lost they still never gave up going forward but if truth be told the best side on the day deservedly won.

The only thing the keeper didn't drop all afternoon

It's taken me a long long time to visit my most local of football clubs, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and at seventy five pence a goal exceptional value for money. Non league day has worked it's magic once again, for it has certainly enticed me to go back and visit again. Charlton and Sutton will always hold special places in my heart but one things for sure, I'm going to support my local team as well.