All Shook Up

The Shakers came to The Valley on Tuesday night on the back of a 3-0 defeat to Rochdale. It was another Dale who broke their hearts in London though.

Chris Powell shook up his starting eleven with a couple of changes on a bitterly cold night. Bradley Wright-Phillips was missing, Leon Clarke getting the nod to play up front alongside Kermorgant, and Dale Stephens impressive cameo at Exeter was enough to convince the gaffer to start him alongside Hollands in the middle of the park in place of Bradley Pritchard.

If truth be told, the Charlton faithful were probably expecting a bit of a goal fest after the hard fought 1-0 battles of late. An early goal would have perhaps seen the rewards their possession deserved, yet it wasn't to be, and Bury got the opener just before the interval through a man i last came into contact with whilst devising our wedding present list, John-Lewis.

General opinion is that Leon Clarke was poor up front and it wasn't until he was replaced by Danny Haynes that the Charlton attack looked lively. Kermorgant, as much as i rate him, will never be a twenty goal a season man. He works tirelessly week in week out and deserves a goal more than anyone, but it's the midfield who have to step up to the mark and get their name on the score sheet at the moment.
I doubt very much Clarke will start on Saturday, but whoever does will certainly be feeling a little pressure now.

Most had thought they had seen our first home defeat of the season. Those who gave in and left early to head home and warm up missed a peach.
Ladies and gentlemen, may i introduce to you Mr Dale Stephens.
Hughes, Russell, Pritchard, they've all come in and done a solid job. Stephens though adds something a little more creative, his distribution is second to none. His eye for the spectacular is, well, just something else. With ninety three minutes on the clock he let rip from close to thirty yards out after the Bury keeper had denied Michael Morrison moments earlier.

The Charlton bench went mental, you would have been forgiven for thinking it was a cup final winner. Even Jason Euell, returning home briefly as a summariser for BBC radio, nearly fell out of the gantry high up in the rafters of the east stand.
Bury were devastated, the players slumped to the ground a memorable victory snatched from them at the the last.

A point rescued, more importantly an unbeaten home record still intact, warning signs are there that the hard work isn't over yet and complacency mustn't creep in. Fortunately Sheffield Wednesday failed to close the gap with a draw at MK Franchise so it's still ten points difference between ourselves and the chasing pack.
Rochdale Saturday gives us perfect opportunity to forget this blip and get back to winning ways. I'm getting out of work early and should have plenty of time in the Rose of Denmark beforehand to thin out the blood with alcohol.
Well, it's one way of numbing this cold weather!

Come on you reds!

Four better for worse.

This weekend i dusted down the whistle and made the trip oop north for a wedding. I do enjoy a good wedding and the opportunity to put the best threads on and this was certainly no exception.

Tim, the groom is a childhood friend of Heidi's and yesterday it was his turn to jump the broomstick.
After leaving school he headed north for further education and never came back, much like his brothers before him. Heidi was always going to be there for the big day and although we headed up there a little worried only knowing a half dozen people between us, we left knowing a fair few more as is always the way.

We stayed at the hotel which was to host the reception, The Marriott Victoria & Albert, a five star place just up the road from Old Trafford. We drove up on the Friday so spent two nights, all paid for with Tesco clubcard vouchers. What a great feeling that was handing over these vouchers when faced with a three hundred quid bill!

Once we had found the room and unpacked, i decided a boozer and a curry house were on the agenda. Manchester's curry mile is world famous and my lamb bhuna certainly lived up to all expectations as did some of the local ale.
Manchester is a beautiful friendly city from my experience, yet according to Heidi this didn't deter me from entering full cockney mode. It seems that when I'm far from home i have a safety blanket that comes out! The London accent gets stronger and my use of rhyming slang is far more evident.
Well, you need to let these Mancunians know who's boss don't you!

Saturday and the day of the wedding. After pigging out on the complimentary fry up and having far more than i needed we sat in the bar for a quick pint before the off. We had to set the sat nav and the bar seemed by far the most sensible place to do it! Plus a little taster just to get us in the swing of the day ahead you understand. We then departed to Bury, home town of the bride.
The first thing i noticed was Gigg Lane, not quite as impressive as Old Trafford! We saw the ground driving around Bury whilst the sat nav refused to admit it was lost. The normally polite lady seemed to change her tone as i refused to take the third exit off a non existent roundabout. She also seemed insistent i drove through a pedestrianised part of the town centre!

We did eventually find the small church, parking in a cobbled side road. This was a real Coronation Street type experience which made me chuckle and helped make my trip up north complete.

I was on best behaviour throughout the weekend. The biggest achievement was not getting drunk, just a little merry, whilst nearly as impressive as that was my restraint in the church. Not once did i look at my phone to check the score during the service.

On return to the hotel we were all ushered in the bar for a glass of wine whilst some photos took place by the grand entrance. The bar just so happened to have a large screen showing sky sports news. Myself and another lad stopped dead in our tracks to check how our respective sides were doing as the second half was underway by now. I was by far and away the happier of the two as we were four up and his Barnsley side were on the receiving end of a hammering.

If Charlton are going to put four past a team (and save a penalty) you can guarantee I'm not going to be anywhere near the ground. I've been racking my brains all day and I'm sure Southampton opening day all those years ago is the last time I've seen us put a hatful past a side.

As the beers went down Barnsley cheered up a bit and turned out (along with his fiancee) to be great company, another side's results to keep half an eye out for. We agreed about many footballing issues but agreed to disagree on a certain Neil Redfearn!

The wedding reception went well and gave me many a laugh. The father of the bride speech went on and on, drifting totally off subject at one point as he started complaining about his energy bills. These northern folk can't half talk. It's just such a shame the best man couldn't. He sobbed and stumbled his way through a handful of words before giving up. We were so sympathetic on the outside yet hysterical inside. I was reminded of James Corden's character Smithy and his best man speech in Gavin & Stacey.

As if this wasn't a good enough memory to cling to from the day, the food came out and our lamb and vegetables lay on a bed of mushy peas. As a Sarf Landan boy, i felt very privileged to be treated to this delicacy and scoffed it down.

We had the traditional wedding band playing all the old favourites, but they got better and more adventurous as the evening progressed and did a wonderful cover of Pulp's Common People. The singer/bassist seemed in my slightly inebriated condition to be far too good to be playing these type of gigs.
The night was rounded off a treat when trays of bacon sarnies came out. A lovely touch that went down a treat, something to soak the beer up before retiring for the evening. I'd lost track of Barnsley a few drinks before this. I think he'd already left so i had his as well. I'm sure he'd of approved.

Today we drove past Old Trafford on our way home an hour and a half before kick off of the Manchester derby. We had already seen a fair few United supporters in the hotel who had flown in the day before for the big match all of whom had a big smile on their face. How the whole place seemed to be buzzing! I felt a little disappointed i wasn't going what with being so close, but drive past we did. On arrival home i couldn't believe my eyes as i looked up the score. How i would have liked to have seen those same faces this evening.

A good weekend then both for myself, the happy couple and all those with a love of Charlton Athletic. A great response to the defeat at Stevenage, i personally am glad to see young Chris Solly back in the starting eleven. I've only seen a handful of minutes highlights but it sounds like he had a great game as did our other full back Rhoys Wiggins. Add to that two goals for Yann the man, a beautiful finish from BWP and some comical keeping to help Danny Hollands shot from distance find the net. Hamer's penalty stop and a hard working performance from Andy Hughes in the middle in the park and it's of no surprise that every Addick woke up with a smile from ear to ear this morning.

Things are really looking good, so ladies and gentlemen would you please raise your glasses.................

Any old Iron.

That was the shout of the Rag and Bone man who was after your discarded and unwanted odds and sods that he could still salvage. Scunthorpe, The Iron, filled that role yesterday taking a point (albeit more than deserved) that we discarded.

A quality side will get result even when they haven't always had the best of the match. Charlton have had plenty of warning already at this early stage of the season, first halves have been dominant only to let the opposition back in a little in the second forty five. It was only a matter of time before somebody punished us.
Scunthorpe stepped up to that challenge after some very sloppy defending gave us our first glimpse of disappointment.

Johnnie Jackson opened the scoring with what is becoming a trademark looping header. This was followed by Bradley Wright-Phillips getting on the end of an inch perfect cross from Danny Hollands. 2-0 and controlling a game we had little right to. Scunthorpe had the more possession, the more shots on and off target and six corners to each one of ours.
The visitors never laid down and got themselves back into the match through Bobby Grant. A goal with around a quarter of an hour to go, then in the first of five added minutes the marksman doubled his tally to break Charlton hearts.
Watching these goals on TV highlighted that the striker was surrounded by red shirts on both occasions, yet twice allowed a route through to goal.

This result was inevitable, every team every season will drop points. Four wins on the trot was asking a lot to open a season with. It's how we bounce back from this and what we'll take from it that matters. Last season we went from match to match making similar, if not the same, mistakes. We've an opportunity on Tuesday to take a scalp, if you can call Reading that, and get back into winning ways, it was a habit that suited us.

Chris Powell has stuck with the same side so far, i hope (and expect) the Carling Cup will give others from our large squad a chance, and the opportunity, to stake a claim in the starting XI for the trip to Bury next Saturday.
Bury have started well, but these are the teams we need to send a lesson out to. MK Dons and Brentford both walloped their opposition yesterday, the former likely to be promotion candidates come May. We have only dropped the first two points out of twelve and we've been taught a valuable lesson. We have to take as many of our chances as possible to put a game to bed. It's something we've never really been that good at.

As the weeks go by, we'll think of this as a useful point gained rather than two dropped. Scunthorpe will be in the mix judging by the standard of football witnessed at The Valley, and they will be expecting the quick return to the Championship we had once dreamed of.

Let's hope we see some of the more positive football from now on that we are more than capable of and take a leaf out of the Franchise's book. I would like to see us sticking to having two up front till the death, no disrespect to the Ginger Pele, but late goals can win or change games for either side.

Here's to a hatful at Gigg Lane.