Jitterbug

'Everybody Jitterbug' sang The Toy Dolls in homage to a dance craze from yesteryear. The dancing in Charlton today was all done by way of celebration in the Jimmy Seed stand from the visiting supporters.
The home side contributed by means of providing the jitters. And plenty of them.

Jonathan Forte isn't a name we'll forget in a hurry in SE7. His first half hat trick helped stun The Valley faithful into a state of shock as Charlton left the field four goals down at half time.

After the first home defeat of the season at the hands of Colchester on Tuesday, i did wonder how we would react. It could of gone either of two ways but none of us expected the rout we saw today.
Notts County are putting together a strong bid for a play off spot and were never to be taken lightly, but we are top of the league, by head and shoulders, and should not collapse like we did for forty five minutes today.

County came out of the traps brighter than Charlton and the Addicks looked complacent even before the first goal. Another shot from distance, lacking in the quality of Tuesday's however, put the Magpies in front. Two minutes later Forte got his first as the visitors seemed to bypass our defense completely and the hit man got on the end of a ball from out wide.
Number three was a contender for the next football nightmare compilation as Matt Taylor and Ben Hamer lacked any communication letting Forte get in between them to capitalise.
Another cross five minutes before the break and Forte got on the end with his head this time, completing a deserved treble.

The covered end was silent. That 6-1 defeat to Leeds sprang to mind and i wondered, providing we didn't do something drastic, whether i was going to witness something for the record books, just all for the wrong reasons.

Chris Powell's half time team talks must be something truly out of this world. It could be worth pretending we're behind before a ball is even kicked at ten to three next week.
Charlton came out and attacked the covered end like their lives depended on it. First Bradley Wright-Phillips, then young Scott Wagstaff (a thirteen minute substitute for the injured Danny Haynes) both netted within ten minutes of the re-start to half the deficit.

We sang we would win 5-4, and for a while we believed we would. In fact, if a blatant penalty appeal had been given for a foul on Wright-Phillips, it may well have been the greatest comeback many of the 17,000 would have ever witnessed.

After such a glum feeling during the first half, i relished the buzz of the second. Our glorious old stadium was absolutely electric as our two goals went in. It was on par with a draw a few years back against West Ham (4-4 i think?) for atmosphere. The place was alive!
Although it didn't happen and we dropped points for the second week running, i still left the ground content. If the second half had been no improvement on the first this post would have a different feel altogether but we showed the fight necessary to keep our season on track.

After the penalty claim, we did seem to resort a little to a hopeful long ball into the box interspersed with some nice build up play, just lacking in quality with a final ball. Things understandably seemed a little rushed on the pitch as the clock ticked away and it was obvious the players were frustrated, but it's refreshing after last season to see the team feeling the pain of defeat as much as the paying supporters in the stands.

I really hope this is a blip. Scunthorpe away next Saturday won't be the easiest of fixtures to turn things around but if we hadn't just suffered these two defeats we would have gone up there fearing nothing.

We are of course Charlton and we have never done anything the easy way. The job isn't done yet no matter how comfortable the table still looks. That infamous Charlton end of season slump is a scary thought but I'm sure this current side is too good for that. The second half today showed that, didn't it?

Come on you reds!

Rhyme or Reason

It is of course the great Jimmy Greaves who says that football is a funny old game. Never has anyone been so on the ball about something.

Look at Arsenal in their Champions League tie against AC Milan. The first leg in Italy was, for Arsenal, truly awful. Even to say it was a capitulation would be kind, but then this week in the return leg they came so close to squaring things up. So much so that most Englishmen, other than of course Tottenham fans, felt both proud and sorry for them after laughing the week before.
I very much doubt even Arsene Wenger would have predicted last nights events.

Charlton's last two outings have been equally bizarre. Snatching a win from a poor performance on Saturday, then losing after dominating last night. How can anyone make sense of such logic defying circumstances? It could only be football. As Addicks, we sometimes feel that it could only be Charlton!

The trip to Bournemouth was supposed to be an early idea of what the promotion party is going to be like. A warm weekend on the coast, many Charlton fans making a long break of it, yes, this had all the makings of a festival representing everything that is great about being Charlton.
And although three more points were added to our already impressive sum, it wasn't quite the footballing extravaganza many had hoped for.

The milder temperatures we had witnessed in the week prior to the game disappeared by the Friday resulting in a much colder, and at times wetter, weekend. On the pitch Charlton never really got going and Bournemouth were for large periods the brighter of the two sides.
If anyone deserved all the points you could be forgiven for saying it was probably the hosts but in fairness a nil nil draw was very much on the cards.
Teams that win championships though have, not only a never say die attitude, but also more than their fair slice of luck. Combined, these two elements sent nearly two thousand travelling Londoners home happy as Yann Kermorgant headed home in the last minute of stoppage time.
It was a close call and the ball did cross the line, but on another day we've seen the exact same thing not given.

If we can pull something like that out the hat away from home on an off day, just imagine what damage we can inflict on some poor unsuspecting also ran when we're firing on all cylinders in our own back yard!
Colchester came to The Valley Tuesday evening attempting to become the first side to win a league fixture there all season.

They got off to the greatest of starts with a wonderful strike from Anthony Wordsworth after only five minutes. It was the kind of goal that would beat the best of keepers and meant Charlton had to chase the game from the off. Chase they did though and most of the play was in and around the Colchester half of the pitch.
Chances came and went without the home side making them count until with a quarter of an hour to go a mistake from keeper Ben Hamer gifted Colchester their second goal and effectively put the game to bed. For the record it really must be said that Charlton continued to look for that elusive goal right through to the final whistle, all alas to no avail.
Looking at the stats, it's only the third defeat of the season, and the first at home for almost eleven months.

Fortune does however favour the brave and closet rivals Sheffield United also stuttered going down at Walsall, a second defeat on the spin. This all means of course that we are still thirteen points clear of second and fourteen clear of third. The big red panic button doesn't yet need hitting, although this was a gentle reminder that the trophy isn't yet in our cupboard and a few more results still need to be ground out. I'm no manager but perhaps one or two changes could be called for, just to shake everybody up a little.

Notts County visit SE7 on Saturday and from what I've been reading Chris Powell's team are down in the dumps and ready to put affairs back in order for this one. It really could be a case of back with a vengeance and a possible hammering. I'm not even going to tempt fate and mention any other possible scenarios, suffice to say your guess is as good as mine as to what will happen on the day.
I say this because as we all know, football really is a funny old game.

Come on you reds!

Knots Landing

This has without doubt been a week in history we won't forget in a hurry. And not for the reason of Jason Euell re-signing for the club on a one year contract, becoming the club's sixteenth signing of the summer.
Neither will it be remembered for the Carling cup second round draw taking place. A draw that was seeded no less, defying all rhyme and reason so completely taking any romance out of an already stale tournament. Going into the hat with our name on the same ball as Reading meant we were a 'seeded' side and hence unable to be paired with any kind of glamour tie and a potential bumper pay day.
A few years back this would have worked to our possible advantage, making the prize of a Wembley day out slightly more obtainable.
Now we have the possible visit of Preston to get excited about. I've thought about trying to dress that up as best i can, but have ultimately given up through a real lack of ideas.


So whilst the Premier league gets under way today, we have our first away trip. Norwich City (remember them) are at Wigan, we are at Notts County. OK, Wigan isn't all that glamorous as top flight games go, but the debacle of 'that' Colchester match must be a very foggy memory. Oh how we all laughed and gloated.........

Last season we visited Meadow Lane in February and had the pleasure of playing in good old fashioned mud. Bradley Wright-Phillips missed a penalty and the chance to rescue a point after Neal Bishop had scored for the home side with his backside.
He is in the minority today of playing in that game, lining up now in our new look team. Chris Powell started with the same eleven as last Saturday against Bournemouth, sticking with Wagstaff over the eligible again Danny Green.
Green joined Jason Euell on the bench at the expense of Paul Benson and Bradley Pritchard.

The 800 travelling Addicks were in good voice and didn't have long to wait, Charlton started much the brighter of the two teams. In fact, Charlton looked far the better side for the whole first half playing good passing football. This culminated with two goals in the last ten minutes of the first period,
young Scott Wagstaff came up trumps first. After great work from Danny Hollands, Waggy took the ball around the keeper and netted from a very tight angle. Two in two from the homegrown talent reassured us all that there is no way he's giving his place up for anyone!
Then just before the break Chris Solly found Wright-Phillips with a delightful pass. The striker would have been forgiven for taking it on himself, but chose instead to play it to across the goal for Paul Hayes to get on the end of, notching his first goal for the Addicks.
By half time it really was just like watching Brazil, just as the south Londoners were singing.

In the second half we were 'treated' to the arrival of Lee Hughes for the home side. Again we started brightly and the skipper, Johnnie Jackson, nearly put us three up with his head, only for it to be cleared before crossing the line.
Notts County to their credit never really laid down and got back into the match on the hour mark. County substitute Montano got on the end of a corner and the ball snuck past the far post. After this the Magpies seemed very capable of snatching back a point, but our new Charlton are a lot more resilient. If anything, this was a good test for our midfield and defense. Last season we would have crumbled in a similar situation but this time around that nervousness has all but gone and a new found professionalism has come to the fore.

The Doc came on again to steady things up at the back for the final few minutes, whilst debuts came for Andy Hughes and Jason Euell. Euell of course to a rapturous ovation.
Danny Hollands and Paul Hayes both stood out as having very solid games although once again all eleven put a shift in and gave a good team performance.
This is Charlton's first win on the road in a very long time and for the second week running we can say we are top of the league. It sounds good.
One flash point happened after the final whistle. Hollands and Bishop were both booked after a bust up in front of the travelling support. It had been a good tempered match on the whole and this did seem to put a slight dampener on an otherwise great day. I'm sure in time we'll find out exactly the nature of these fisticuffs.

Norwich by the way got their first point on the board with a 1-1 draw at Wigan. A much better start to their life mixing it with the big boys than poor Queens Park Rangers........