Here one minute, gone the next.

Marcus Tudgay today returned to Nottingham Forest a good month earlier than expected. Having struggled to make any impact during his short time with the Addicks, he only mustered a couple of substitute appearances and one start, that ill fated game at Bramall Lane earlier in the month.

It is reported that new head coach (manager) José Riga didn't fancy the player and had a multitude of blank firing front-men ahead of him in the pecking order. It's also possible of course that manager- less Forest may have recalled Tudgay ready for the incoming new boss to decide his team. They certainly need to sort something out quickly as after Billy Davies' last match in charge, the drubbing by fierce rivals Derby County, fortunes fared little better as they entertained Charlton on Tuesday evening.

The first of three consecutive journeys northbound, Charlton hoped for better results than last season's visit to the City Ground when they arguably received the sternest footballing lesson they were to get all season. Tuesday's affair was far more even, both sides creating chances and both sides squandering them. Our favourite nil-nil seemed on the cards once again when Obika hit the post and Jordan Cousins was unmarked and on hand to score with the rebound. Not as late as Dervite's winner the week before but another Tuesday night single goal victory. Not a bad habit to get into.

Again routine wasn't just a striker failing to find the net, but not for the first time we saw a mildly average night for the 'Duchâtelet six'. Only Astrit Ajdarević and Reza Ghoochannejhad featured yet neither could match the performance of Cousins, the youngster putting in a man of the match performance just when I felt the time could be right to rest him. I won't be giving up my day job.

With Tudgay going home, it is with no surprise that the revolving loan door keeps spinning. Rumours spread yesterday about the possible capture of Chris Eagles. He was supposedly seen at the Forest game although Derby are keen on the winger. Out of favour at Bolton could he be what the club needs to bring the best out of Wanderers teammate Marvin Sodall?

Whilst the former Manchester United player is still unsure of his immediate future, another current red devil has signed a short term loan deal at The Valley. Italian youngster Davide Petrucci joined up with his new teammates today for the first time. An attacking midfielder he's yet to feature for the first team at Old Trafford but has had a little experience in the Championship making four appearances for Peterborough last season. Since then, and more noticeably to our owner/management team, he's had a short spell on loan with Royal Antwerp in Belgium. They play in the big league where our current crop of hopefuls dream of ending up. I jest of course; I must learn to behave!

Whilst on the topic of loan switches, forgotten man Danny Hollands has gone to Portsmouth in League Two. Another Addick who will contest a relegation dogfight to the death.

Myself, I'm opting for a relegation battle elsewhere this evening. My local side Horley Town in the Combined Counties league have a floodlit kick off against mid table Cove at The New Defence. After a big win against fellow stragglers Chessington & Hook United on Tuesday evening, confidence is high amongst the squad that they can retain level nine status for next season. I'm guaranteed ninety minutes of passion and commitment although I'm not expecting to report on any Belgian connections tonight.

Clean Sheet

We've now played ten (recorded) league games and we've finally kept a clean sheet, even young children go ten whole nights in bed and have a better record. On a similar vein we've only scored once in the last four matches, six hours of football. Six hours of school disco's and the spottiest kid is again going to wallop that record and score more often.

We were uplifted, on a high, after Tuesday's spirited performance. We wanted more of the same please, perhaps one better and a victory. We had beaten this lot twice last season, why not again today? The trouble is, that the chemistry, the emanation radiated from a floodlit crowd doesn't travel well, it loses something come Saturday no matter how much we try to revive it.

Chris Powell, unsurprisingly, started with the same eleven in, again,  the same formation. Blackpool lined up with the game changing, the very confident on the ball, the gaffers son, Tom Ince and a certain former Charlton favourite Ricardo Fuller amongst their very large and physical side. There was no doubt our youngsters would be muscled out of many of the challenges during the course of the afternoon.

At this point I'd like to just remind you all of my love for a sash on a football shirt. Blackpool wore a white top with a tangerine sash front and back. It could have so easily been the best shirt I'd seen adorn The Valley pitch if it wasn't for that awful blue Wonga logo emblazoned across the front of it. Fair play to Errea though for producing such a fine effort. We, mean time, shall stick with our N**e templates.

Jordan Cousins had signed a three year deal on Friday (and how the club milked such breaking news), he looked very lively in his effort to repay the club for their generosity. He was orchestral in many of our early moves as we did start the game where we left off the last. The crowd played their part and tried to turn the place into a cauldron of noise, we were never going to be out-sung by the eight hundred Seasiders enjoying their trip to the capital.

Our build up play was good, Wiggins and Gower particularly shone for me, but we seemed to fall away in the final third of the pitch. Sordell and Church had very little idea of what the other was doing, Harriott just behind them was ineffectual and bullied out of the game. What worked on Tuesday fell down a little today.

Don't think I'm not happy with the point, despite a couple of shaky moments we did still play well and held our own without doubt. We could though have carried on playing until Sunday and still not looked like taking the win. Cousins came closest, a stunning drive of a shot which I thought had hit the base of the post but apparently was turned around by the keeper. It was certainly closer than any of our strikers came.

Simon Church ran all over the park yet again, nobody could dare question his commitment, but, as I tweeted earlier, only Steve Ovett has run further without finding the net. Goal shy (crap) he may be, but he's our goal shy (crap). Sordell on the other hand......

I'm all for giving the young lads a go, look at Harriott at the end of last season and Cousins at the beginning of this. Why not give Piggott a bigger role? Or better still recall young Michael Smith from AFC Wimbledon. He has an eye for goal, he's proved that everywhere he's been, the only recollection I have of him in a Charlton shirt is coming on as a late sub at Halifax in the FA Cup, and he made a goal then!  But then we've got Sordell, that pretentious Bolton player who, when taken off today as we waited to attack with a free kick and the clock ticking, ambled off ridiculously slowly hoping to milk some applause.

As the game progressed today Blackpool sensed we couldn't finish them off and continued to tease us with long throws and good balls into our box. We stuck firm though as the game fizzled out, once again we were left feeling happy for the point.

An international break follows, and it may serve us well as one or two more influential players possibly could have returned from injury by then. For me it's opportunity to catch another non league match following on from the success of 'non league day' last month.

Charlton, and football as a whole isn't the be all and end all as we so often forget. Today we were reminded of life's bigger and sometimes crueler picture. Paul Raisey, a well known face in the North Stand and the Rose of Denmark, plus being a very regular away day traveler, this week lost his beautiful daughter Charlotte. I had the pleasure of meeting this charming and delightful young lady for her 21st birthday a couple of years ago, she was a true shining light that embossed herself in both mine and Heidi's thoughts. I can only begin to imagine how Paul, Bill and the rest of the family must be feeling. My heart goes out to you all.

God bless my friends.

Charlotte Raisey RIP

Up And Running

All around the world people were today celebrating the start of the English football season. The FA, in conjunction with Sky, had chosen today to unleash their money making new Premier League campaign on a football hungry public willing to spend their budget on expensive TV packages and lucrative match day tickets.

I had a customer this morning in the bike shop who jubilantly remarked that football is finally back. Staggered, I casually mentioned that the real stuff started two weeks ago, he was completely oblivious. He honestly had no idea, where this chap had been hiding I really don't know, but for a fifty-odd year old man (and apparently staunch Chelsea supporter) to not know the lower divisions had already kicked off, and have no clue which division Charlton played in, I realised the brain washing of the Premier League machine was taking hold. How can someone who claims to "love his football" be so blinkered? I was, to coin a phrase, bloody angry. His motorcycle duly failed it's MOT.

Do these people think exciting football can only happen if multimillionaire footballers take to the pitch? Just look at Reading and Watford today. An end to end 3-3 draw that could easily have been 6-6, Watford did indeed find the net six times only the week before. What about the action at Oakwell today? A home team two goals up, then a spirited fightback sees the visitors claim a point. And this a fixture that saw a 6-0 away win only last season. Yes, I do have a lot of arguments with modern football, but for all the issues with TV companies, club chairman, the FA and like, supporters with their heads in the sand probably wind me up the most.

So Charlton then. Sordell was dropped, shame, Jackson was injured, and we started with a 4-3-3 formation. At half time we were a goal down, ten minutes later it was two. All the comments of  'a long hard season ahead' were fluttering around inside my head. Three played, nil points, both ourselves and Millwall were in danger of going to the fancy dress party as Denmark's Eurovision entry, propping up the entire division. Three played, and beaten by three teams that I really don't believe are good enough for a top half of the table finish, one or two of which could even find life a little harder than that. And then I hear on the radio that there are club's in the Conference that have plenty more in their bank accounts than us. It's looking like it's all over for us already, and according to the media the season is only forty five minutes old!

Football, whether top flight or not, is an intriguing game though, and fortunes can turn on their head in a matter of moments. It only takes a goal. Young midfielder Jordan Cousins was given his debut as a half time substitute, along with Leon Cort, by Chris Powell. He went on to emulate Rickie Lambert's England midweek showing by marking the occasion with a goal. Momentum was with us and eight minutes later Simon Church doubled our tally with his first league goal of the season.

A point grasped from the hands of defeat, it almost feels like we won. Our first point on the board, a little confidence instilled in the team and the impetus now to address the home performance before the visit of Doncaster Rovers next week, cue hundreds of Addicks falling back in love with their football team.

How many of you didn't even realise this type of thing happened up and down the country week in week out to real working class folk? Football is much more than a Super Sunday.