I can see for miles and miles

You'll notice the linesman today in front of the west stand didn't drop his flag once. Not only eagle eyes, he must have had gripping hands too.

Charlton today were undone by a much better footballing side led, at it's heart, by former Addick Andy Reid. The fact Yann Kermorgant got sent off didn't really change the outcome (albeit the event happening at 0-0), it just ruined the match as a spectacle.

Another former Addick, Greg Halford had a little 'ding-dong' with the French striker and it transpires our man kicked out therefore opening himself up to punishment. In my last post I commended Kermorgant on his professionalism, typical huh? Today he was riled and rash, much to his cost. Now if the referee, who had a good view, or for that matter the linesman on the same wing as the incident had decided a red card was in order then I believe we would have all accepted the decision. Kermorgant was pushed, he lashed out. He knew he was in trouble as he tried to explain to the linesman how he'd got himself into this predicament. After the initial incident the Forest players surrounded our frontman lashing out with their handbags, our lads came to Kermorgant's defense brandishing handbags of their own, bingo cards in the other hand. It really was a little like that, a lot of playground name calling and nothing sinister. From nowhere the other linesman, further away than yourself dear reader, proved to all and sundry why he will never blame the cheese sandwiches when he gets on a roller coaster. Through his binoculars he apparently clearly saw every detail and ran almost the width of the pitch to share the news. Oh how I wished he'd slipped up in the copious amount of mud on the pitch and landed on his backside as he returned to where he should be.

This all happened about five minutes before the interval, Charlton had been outplayed during the first half but were hanging on, the game was still very much alive. Chris Powell to his credit, I believe, didn't make a rash decision and hung on with the same ten until half time before readdressing his tactics and making a change.

His options on the bench were surprisingly large. Haynes and Fuller were the obvious but we also had new loan signing Jonathan Chiedozie Obika. The tall striker is with us from Tottenham for the rest of the season and according to Wikipedia (yes, I know) he is named after the former Orient and Notts County wide man. Chiedozie was a real favourite of mine and I really hope this is true. Powell plumped for Fuller in place of the ineffectual Stephens, to be honest he could have made any change and we still wouldn't have been at the races. Charlton would have had fared better in a sandcastle building competition on the awful pitch.

Forest, wearing the funkiest socks ever to grace The Valley (spirals), were a class above and should have battered us scoring a lot more than the two they did. I didn't catch the build up to the first so I cannot comment on Scott Wagstaff's contribution but their second was a tad fortunate. Dorian Dervite was the victim in a tough challenge warranting the referee to blow up, but the official let play continue only for Ben Hamer to fumble a shot allowing Forest to capitalize on the error and turn in the loose ball. Hamer lay motionless face down on the floor, the game was well and truly over and he knew that his was a poor mistake. After that Forest had a spell of hammering our goal but failed to hit the target again, their possession was controlled (the fans cheered every completed pass) albeit with numerical advantage, but they really did run us ragged. Whenever Charlton play against ten men we find it an almost impossible challenge, yet when we are down on numbers the words hot knife and butter spring to mind.

Once again against Forest we looked out of our depth, if we still find ourselves playing at this level next season (and I believe we will) we need to address this home form and get over whatever mental block we've developed. You can't just blame a lack of finance or an atrocious playing field, there is something deeper. You don't get two chances at this level, we've rode our luck this season at times, we won't be so fortunate again.

And as for Forest? It would be a travesty if they didn't make the play-off's this season. Without doubt one of the best footballing sides we've faced, and besides, Andy Reid deserves another final crack at the big time. I'm glad the Charlton supporters gave him great applause today as he left the pitch, it was the one and only moment I want to remember from today.

Cry me a stream

Nottingham Forest, another team very much fancied to put in a serious promotion challenge this season hosted Charlton for their second away day of the new campaign.

Would Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, a former Charlton player come back to haunt us and, more importantly, would Andy Reid eat all the burgers from the kiosks in the vicinity of the ground? In fact would he eat the team coach as well to stop his former club returning to London, forcing Chris Powell's champions to hitch hike back down the M1?
And why did this groundbreaking motorway now lead all the way to Dallas Texas?

After the excitement of transfer deadline day behind us, it was a chance for new signings to get their first taste of action in a different shirt.
With Jimmy Floyd and SeanO'Driscoll running things, Forest had assembled a team of Dutch speaking Doncaster fans to play around loanee striker Billy Sharp. Chris Powell couldn't resist pulling the striker to one side to gloat about his suits really defining the word 'sharp'.

Charlton were struggling to replace Chris Solly who had moved the previous evening to Hamburger SV for two million Deutsche Marks and a signed framed photo of Kevin Keegan.
In a press conference, Chris Powell stated it was the young full backs blonde locks that first alerted the Germans to him. Andy Reid is said to be as sick as a pig he hasn't had the chance to link up with Solly at his dream club.

At least Andy Hughes got the chance to come out of retirement to fill in at the back. And we all thought he'd been kidnapped.

Charlton, wearing an all black kit in mourning of the club shop, started poorly. Sure enough the old boys curse struck with Jimmy Floyd opting to play himself and scoring a hat trick in the opening five minutes.
It became apparent that the gaffer had made a slight tactical mistake playing a whole team of Kermorgants, the ten full size cardboard versions didn't seem to hold up too well in the tackle and went down as easily as the real McCoy.

Only one thing for it, the gaffer was going to have to pull a shirt on and come back for one last hurrah!

The second half was a much more even affair. Ricardo Fuller dazzled the home defence with his glitzy earrings,  whilst Emile William Ivanhoe Heskey made his Addicks debut, although preferring to have the name Leaburn on his shirt out of respect for his idol.
Johnnie Jackson, the skipper, who continued his wonderful start to the campaign then came off for Nick Berry. It wasn't just the Charlton faithful singing the Heartbeat theme tune, It was pumped out of Forest's tannoy system for the whole second period as a special request to those viewers in Finland watching the game live on TV.

Charlton clawed it back to three all as the fourth official held up a board indicating twenty seven minutes stoppage time. The Charlton bench argued his decision stating it was at least twenty eight  times that their French front man had clutched different parts of his body whilst grimacing on the ground. Forest fans thought he should have at least had a penalty whilst singing lets all laugh at Leicester.

With seconds remaining, Chris Powell came up for a Charlton corner. The ball was swung in high and the Londoners lifted their talisman aloft (in a fashion more akin to a rugby line out) to connect with the ball. Just as he was about to make contact a loud bleeping came from the tannoy, Andy Hughes came back to life, he hadn't really been shot.............it had all just been a dream.
Surely the public wouldn't stand for a whole football match based on a dream.

Last night i met some very lovely folk, all football bloggers, at the Socrates meet up at Victoria. Amongst chatting football, plenty of beer was consumed. The place ran out of bitter by the end of the evening.
A great evening was had as i met up with friends i 'speak' to on twitter on a daily basis, but beer makes me dream in a similar way that cheese affects most people.

We really did play at Forest today, it was shown live in both Finland and Kuwait i believe, but that's where the similarity ends.
It could have been more if Johnnie Jackson and Ben Hamer had you fooled with their cunning hoax on twitter about the signing of Heskey.

I watched the game through a stream found on line but i fear it wasn't the best one available. Whenever we attacked the Forest goal it either froze or threw up big adverts which didn't really want you to close them. Being the high quality product that it is, it's kind of hard to complain isn't it so i battled through bravely.

Forest were much the better side in the first half and went into the interval in a deserved lead. Dale Stephens was a noticeable absentee from the team, perhaps he was still in the general area of Villa Park, so Jordan Cook got his first Charlton start.

The Londoners got much more into the game in the second half but it was always going to be an uphill struggle. Johnnie Jackson worryingly seemed to be a little out classed, whilst Bradley Wright-Phillips hardly got a kick at all.
Forest are undoubtedly a quality team, Simon Cox and Dexter Blackstock both looking impressive. Where Jackson looked he may be a little out of his depth, Cox seemed far too assured to be playing in this division.

Forest got their inevitable second goal to seal the victory, at which point some Charlton supporters decided to beat the rush and depart. Little did they know a mini comeback was around the corner.

Ricardo Fuller and Salim Kerkar both came on with a view to giving us an extra little spark up front. And that's exactly what happened.
Charlton pulled a goal back when Fuller headed the ball against the post which then came off the keeper before ending up in the net. A debut goal it wasn't though as it will be recorded for all time as an own goal.

There were three minutes left, Charlton suddenly seemed to have some purpose. Two minutes later the two substitutes linked up again for Kerkar to strike a powerful volley in the box, only for it to hit an unsuspecting defender. There were penalty shouts for a hand ball but in fairness the Forest lad had little chance to move, it was almost point blank range.

Five minutes of stoppage time, mostly for a battered Kermorgant, lengthened our hope for an equaliser, the best chance falling to Jackson.
A free kick well within his range, if it had been against a Sheffield club it was sure fire to go in but not, alas, today.

Our first defeat, a little reality check, but still a promising start to the campaign. It's a week off now due to the international break, I'll be making the most of it with a good old fashioned booze cruise next Saturday to France. Then it's the big one, Palace at home.

Come on you reds!