Permutations

They're everywhere you look. If we draw on Tuesday and Birmingham lose, if we lose on Tuesday, other results go our way and we snatch a point at Blackpool, If we win... So many scenarios yet it all remains undoubtedly in our own hands, we don't need to rely on anybody else. But I expect we will in the end.

After the Easter Monday victory at Sheffield Wednesday, we had every reason to be expectant of an equally passionate performance yesterday with the possibility of actually securing safety and putting this rather frustrating season to bed. In reality Charlton didn't turn up, they played during the first half some of the worst football I'd seen all season at any level and left us still unsure as to where our future lays for the next campaign.

Sordell was a hero Monday scoring a fine hat trick leaving his doubters (including myself) to eat large slices of humble pie. It certainly showed the potential that others have seen in the player warranting high transfer fees and ludicrous contracts yet it was, for us, only a blip on what has been a rather lackluster loan spell. Still flavour of the month with the fickle hoards of Charlton tweeters, he won a softish penalty that he then chose to take himself. True his eye had been on goal of late but we have a recognized penalty taker in Johnnie Jackson and at a goal down in such a crucial end of season tie I'd have expected a captain to assert his authority, do his job and take the shot himself. As it was Sordell played the ball lamely down the middle to a waiting Paul Robinson in the Rovers goal.

It wasn't just the Bolton man who had a bad day at the office. Callum Harriott had a shocker, Morgan Fox looked completely out of his depth, Chris Solly seemed a long way off from being the player he was before the injury and Ben Hamer never looked in command of his goal. Those I haven't mentioned weren't really any better.

At two down just after the break plenty around me left for the pub, it was a tad early in the match for me but I have to say I was tempted. Sordell pulled one back for the home side and briefly looked determined to repeat history and reproduce his results from Monday but Charlton's best period of the game soon dwindled out as the home side once again choreographed their own downfall as comical playground defending gifted rovers their third. That penalty miss just before the interval certainly proved to be a game changing moment. By the end we introduced Reza and Church to aid Sordell but they all chased shadows in a weak attempt to find an elusive goal. Blackburn took the three deserved points to keep alive the faintest of play off hopes whilst we sloped away quietly licking our wounds.

Duchâtelet had better get the cheque book out in the summer, if we do survive you feel we'll be going through all this again next time around and if we don't this lot couldn't score their way out of League One. I'd like to think the owner would put some of the five million refund he'll receive from relegation back into the squad.  Fortunately Blackpool were the only side below us to win, Barnsley secured another relegation spot alongside Yeovil, so with three others below us the permutations from the fixtures left do appear to favour us. Charlton are bound to take it to the wire though, it wouldn't surprise me if at least three different clubs at some stage occupy that last spot on the 'live' table next Saturday afternoon.

After a good Easter weekend of non league football it was almost with some reluctance that I headed to The Valley. If it wasn't for the time with cherished friends the day would have been far worse. We sat in The Pelton Arms in Greenwich (a wonderful boozer that has somehow eluded me all these years) and it dawned on me that the game really isn't the best part of the day, far from it, and how long has it really been since the actual football was more than just a mere excuse to catch up with your mates? That matchday camaraderie is possibly the only reason holding me back from transferring to non league for good. News that will please the lads at Horley Town who got their survival bid back on track with a much needed 3-2 win over Frimley Green in the Combined Counties League. I am without doubt a bad luck charm on them as my presence almost assures defeat. Fortunately I can't make their last two fixtures so they can enjoy firing their way to a couple more end of season victories over the next few days. Charlton could do with taking a leaf out of their book starting with the Watford game on Tuesday.

Church on a Saturday

What a week for the Welshman! Charlton's number nine scored the winner for his country in a World Cup qualifier against Macedonia last Friday, then the winner for his club yesterday. It would appear I have misjudged the lad a little, proving yet again that Chris Powell is far more suited to the Charlton job than myself.

Church, like his song, has always provoked me since his/it's arrival. Simon Church, my Lord, Simon Church, sing the Addicks faithful. I love the fact, and always smile an inward smile to myself, when this rings around The Valley. You see, purely innocently and without intention or even realization, fifteen thousand football fans are loudly claiming not only the existence of our creator, but also their own immediate relationship with 'Him' being 'theirs'. This to me is complementing all the running, the hard work and the never say die attitude the former Reading striker displays every time he pulls on the Charlton shirt.

Overjoyed in his efforts these fans, after singing his name all match, will then tweet the words to his song as they relive and rejoice in the club's magnificent away display well into the small hours of the morning. And this is where it kicks me in the teeth. Nobody capitalizes the 'L'. Lord is a name, therefore requiring the use of the capital, a small insignificant matter to all but a handful, but enough for me to repeatedly bang my head against the wall. So much promise, let down at the final straight with a niggly, irritating, lack of, for better want of a word, quality. This was Simon Church in a nutshell, viewed through my eyes.

So here I am now, eating my words. At Ewood Park he scored a goal of exalted technique, collecting the ball on his chest (NOT his arm) and netting with the inside of his foot. Quality with a capital Q. I thought he had been a desperation signing from Powell, I was wrong, he obviously saw something in Church that convinced him to acquire his signature on the training ground long before the thousands of paying know-it-all's were to witness it. As all Charlton strikers do, Church will continue to dismay and infuriate, we will all publicly chastise him for it, but at least i now know there is an essence to his game that warrants not only first team football at Championship level, but international recognition too.

It wasn't by any means a one man show at Blackburn. Dale Stephens had one of his good days for us, the exquisite chip of a pass to pick out Church for the goal was as delightful as the goal itself. We know Stephens has this in his ability locker, has another Charlton player blown so hot and cold in recent times, it just depends which Stephens is turning up for the game. yesterday it was the one that was needed. Richard Wood was a tower of strength at the back, again showing exactly what Chris Powell had seen in the player during his trial, Blackburn's (including that perennial thorn in our side, Jordan Rhodes) rather woeful finishing detracting nothing from the strong Charlton defensive performance as when they did shoot on target Ben Hamer was there with tremendous hands.

Three very big points on the road, so urgently needed too as those around us were adding happily to their tally. None more surprisingly or impressive than Barnsley's dominant showing against Middlesbrough. Find and watch their opener, scored by Paddy McCourt, a creative solo run reminiscent of a certain Ricardo Villa at Wembley.

Another positive was the return of Yann Kermorgant and Johnnie Jackson to the substitute's bench, alongside the returning Danny Green after his loan spell at the franchise. Kermorgant and Jackson did both get a piece of the action, the former trying an audacious chip from his own half with typically French disdain. Six minutes of stoppage time, added to the final twenty of the regular, proved compellingly nail biting in a way every Charlton fan knows only too well. You want to look away but instead look through your fingers, evocative of children tucked behind the sofa watching Doctor Who.

The international break obviously did us good. A solid base to take into next Sunday's 'football for a fiver' match at home to Wigan. A team that can't score a goal on the road for love or money. Heard that one before! Let's hope that twenty thousand fans can take a leaf out of the two hundred's book that travelled to Lancashire yesterday, getting a thorough soaking in the process.

In short then I was wrong about Simon Church. Let's get behind the team rather than picking holes in what we have. Come on you reds!

I'm still not convinced about Sordell though.........

Ewood Blues

Everybody needs somebody to love, even long suffering Blackburn Rovers supporters. Jack Walker, God rest his soul, and that title winning team must seem a lifetime ago after the Steve Kean and Henning Berg fiascoes. Michael Appleton's introduction to the Ewood crowd could therefore have gone better for all concerned bar the visitors.

With a win rate of under 19% at Blackpool during his sixty five day tenure, marginally better than the 10% of his predecessor in this new post, the Blackburn fans understandably are short on patience. How short was however a little surprising. There can't be many managers listening to the fans boo at half time during their first match in charge. These fans went on to show their feelings with their feet, flooding out of the stadium before the end.

If Appleton had lasted just sixty six days at Blackpool he would have lost to Charlton two weeks on the trot with two different sides. What a quiz question that would have been!

I hadn't realised previously that today's crowd of just over thirteen and a half thousand was typical for Blackburn, I just presumed they got a fair few more despite all the bad feelings. The Charlton contingent, I'm led to believe, was around three hundred hardy souls that had battled the snow and the cold (not to mention broken down trains) for the long trip to Lancashire, the team certainly made their valiant efforts worthwhile.

Putting the FA Cup to one side, Charlton are unbeaten in the league this year having won three times on the spin. Sitting happily at twelfth in the table we are certainly looking above us first before we look below. Days like today are big results, who'd have predicted a win at Blackburn at the beginning of the season?

The game contained a real contender for goal of the season from Dale Stephens. A rather special strike from twenty five yards which, from an audio only point of view, seemed against the flow a little. Blackburn had certainly started the brighter yet failed to convert possession into goals. Stephens definitely put the cat amongst the pigeons with his wonder strike. Not only were the home fans riled, the rumour merchants could get some more mileage from the possible Villa move story all over again.

Charlton should have really made it two shortly afterwards. Jackson and Kermorgant came close but the ball was cleared off the line amongst the melee. These are the moments that so often come back to haunt us, three minutes after the restart Blackburn were back in the race. The always dangerous Kazim-Richards crossed it for Jordan Rhodes to head home into the bottom corner for his fourteenth goal of the season. Not the first time in his career he's hurt the Addicks.

The winner though came fifteen minutes later courtesy of striker Yann Kermorgant. A wonderful cross from Pritchard followed by a strong and powerful header from the Frenchman restored our lead setting up a typical nerve wracking finale for those of us tuned in to the radio commentary.

Sheffield Wednesday come to The Valley next, we could get to February without dropping a point in 2013. When you look at the awful way we muddled our way through December that's some turnaround!

Chris Powell said afterwards that "we were very positive in our mindset and I think it showed today".
I should imagine Michael Appleton is dreaming of the day he can say that.

We're on a mission from God!

I've been off the radar this weekend. I briefly followed the first hour of Saturday's game but then didn't know the result until around eight o'clock last night. The only football I've seen is four minutes of our highlights on the wonder that is CAFC player.
I have concluded though that i was the only Addick having a dose of the blues yesterday.

My mother in law was hosting a Blues Brothers themed party to celebrate her 50th birthday, i needed no encouragement to don the black tie and trilby hat, and being family we had to be there early to get everything set up, hence missing the end of the second half.

Needless to say, a good night was had by all. I was allowed to dance as, according to my wife, my rather bizarre efforts on the dance floor are very in keeping with those of Jake and Elwood Blues. A little beer intake also gave me the encouragement to show the younger participants a thing or two on a stage that i would never normally call myself comfortable on.

Today after church we were back there putting everything straight again, washing the blood off the floors (might have been chocolate cake actually), and turning their abode into somewhere a little more livable. Even the Sunday afternoon football has passed me by, as i said - off the radar.

The blues i was relishing in were far removed from the blues Ipswich are languishing in. Plenty of boos greeted the team and their boss at the final whistle, how easily that could have been us if we hadn't got a result yesterday. The Tractor boys remain firmly rooted in the bottom three. We now have six below us! Paul Jewell may well be worth putting a couple of quid on for the next managerial casualty.

I must congratulate the traveling supporters who made it to Portman Road. A great football ground I've only ever been to the once (for a certain play off semi final), many fans had to endure a bus replacement service for large parts of the journey. On the back of three defeats this shows wonderful dedication.

As it is, Chris Powell changed it around, albeit enforced in places, with Ricardo Fuller getting a start in place of Kermorgant, and Hollands being relegated to the bench. Jackson who has struggled on the left moved to a more central position allowing an impressive Salim Kerkar to start.

This worked to great effect at the start of the second as Kerkar crossed for Jackson to score a wonderful poachers goal, followed three minutes later as Fuller fired home after some fine solo work.

Ipswich pulled a goal back from Jason Scotland which took a huge deflection wrong footing Hamer in the Charlton goal, and it could have been a real role reversal with Charlton not all out attacking for the last twenty but instead defending in numbers.
The Addicks didn't just sit back and soak it up though as they had chances to put the game beyond reach, but 2-1 it stayed giving a rather relieved Chris Powell and his team three points and a first away win of the season.

Sometimes an enforced change can inadvertently turn things around for you. I've a decision in my own work life which I'd put off for far too long and has now been resolved for me due to a change of  circumstance. It's no good looking back and wishing it had all happened a little earlier, but rather to be thankful of good fortune, and to embrace and build on it.

Blackburn Rovers come to The Valley on Saturday. Big fish in this pond they may be, but that just gives us more to aim for.

As Donald "Duck" Dunn almost said -
"We've got a team powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline."