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

Deja Vu

Same old, same old, said twitter, all afternoon and well into the evening. Charlton's reputation for throwing a perfectly good situation out with the bath water is common knowledge. To repeat the feat two weeks running almost replicating the fine detail is quite simply astonishing/disheartening, even for our normally tolerant faithful.

Sheffield Wednesday came along and mugged us last Saturday, Crystal Palace did the same yesterday. Tactical substitutions failed us one week and they ruined us the next. Ian Holloway may have been under fire of late from the Palace supporters but he certainly won a place in their affections with his half time team talk and change of formation. Powell was certainly the sharper dressed of the two (Holloway looking more suited to selling the Big Issue outside Sainsbury's) but the Eagles boss was a lot sharper tactically.

The first half was a showroom for Charlton's dominance, first to every ball whilst keeping the talents of wide men Zaha and Bolasie at bay. With Dervite playing a holding role in front of the back four as part of a five man midfield Charlton bossed the middle of the park, Solly and Wilson overlapping wonderfully on the right hand side causing all manner of mischief.

It was the lone front man, Ricardo Fuller, who broke the deadlock after a quarter of an hour. Typical fancy footwork from the striker (football's answer to Lionel Blair?) saw him dance his way in from the side of the box finishing with a low strike which rippled the net from an acute angle. Three thousand travelling spectators who were already in good voice erupted, revenge for September's undeserved defeat in the reverse fixture the ultimate goal.

As with the Wednesday game, Charlton failed to turn pressure and possession into anything more. The best opportunity to double the lead and perhaps kill the game off falling to Johnnie Jackson. Cedric Evina put a lovely cross in from the left picking out Lawrie Wilson who headed neatly into the path of the incoming skipper. Jackson, normally deadly with his head, this time guided it the wrong side of the post and the only thing rippling the net this time was the player himself.

At half time Powell was looking relatively happy, Holloway was trying to ignore the disapproval of many, vented his way. When they came back out fifteen minutes later Kevin Phillips was stripped and ready to join the action. After a spot of googling, it transpires the Palace debutant is somewhat surprisingly the youngest of the three of them.

Phillips linked well with decisive front man Glenn Murray up front as Palace ditched their 4-3-3 for a far more effectual 4-4-2. Phillips was the centre of everything looking a lot more dangerous than he did a month earlier for Blackpool at The Valley. A game of two halves is probably the most overused phrase in football but sometimes no other words will do. Crystal Palace were on top, the Addicks needed inspiration, cue the first of Chris Powell's changes a whole seventeen minutes before the end of the game. Positively premature compared to the previous week! Rhoys Wiggins, absent since that same game in September I mentioned previously, made his long awaited return. The left back replaced Scott Wagstaff, not what we expected. Two minutes later Palace were level.

The home side had chance after chance but were getting closer to an equalizer by the minute. Murray, in a clear yard or two of space, picked the ball up close to the penalty spot and a striker of that calibre just doesn't miss, with or without Leon Cort lunging at him. Marking him may have been more effective.

The Palace pressure continued immediately, Ben Hamer producing a fine stop when the ball came hurtling in from a very sweet thirty yard strike. The resulting corner led up to a goal to really break Charlton hearts. Murray controlled a long ball into the box (directly returning from a hopeful 'anywhere will do' clearance) with the outside of his right foot at knee height, bringing it down for a sublime strike with his left peg without breaking stride. Hurt as it may, there is no doubting the excellence of the finish.

A double change with Kermorgant and Haynes both trying to rescue something as Powell went for out and out attack/panic had little impact for the last ten minutes, Palace still doing their damnedest to give Kevin Phillips a debut goal.

With emotions running high, Charlton fans both at the game and around the country were miserable and angry. Throwing a lead away against Wednesday was one thing, throwing it away against South London rivals another. There are plenty of us that will have to face Palace supporters at work tomorrow, bragging rights aside, I think right now I'd rather be Peter Odemwingie facing a hostile return to training than meeting the two Palace regulars I endure on a Monday evening!

No matter how high the tension, how angry the reaction or how badly policed a football match may be, there is no excuse for mindless vandalism. If like minded supporters want to punch one another that's one thing, men fuelled on beer and emotion will always have this side to their character, but the need to take out your frustration on parked cars belonging to local residents is not only embarrassing but financially crippling for the injured party.

I live between a housing estate and the town centre pubs. Every Friday and Saturday night the local yobs and drunks shout and punch their way past our front door with absolutely no respect for any residents. I know I'm starting to sound like my parents rather than the anarchic punk rocker I used to be, but nigh on every Sunday i push the dents back out of the roof of our car after some hero has decided to walk across it. Over the past year there have been about four occasions where we have discovered the wing mirror hanging by it's wires. Believe me, it's a crushing feeling.

All in all it's best we forget this game moving onwards and hopefully upwards for the visit of Birmingham City next week. We may feel despondent at the moment but let's not forget that for the first half yesterday we played a top six side off the park. As Chris Powell said, “It’s tough to take because it’s quite easy to forget about how well we played in that first 60 minutes. It was a proper local derby and chances at both at both ends and its just a body blow for us that we didn’t come out on top.”

We have the ability, we just need to be a little more professional. With our finishing, our substitutions and our exiting a football ground.

Neuton and his law of motion

I fully expected only one name to stand out on New Years Day at Vicarage Road, a certain Mr Trevor Kettle. Yes that Mr Kettle, the one who supports Huddersfield. To his credit he put in a very average performance, he's treated us worse, and he gracefully left the headlines for someone else. A Brazilian named Neuton.

Neuton is currently on loan at Watford from Udinese in Italy, unsurprising in itself with Zola probably having a strong scouting network back in his homeland. This must also be where the young twenty two year old learnt the art of cheating.

Now before you all jump to conclusions, we have had a few lads ourselves over the years who go to ground a little too easily. A big French lad currently playing up front for the team springs to mind, although with Watford it didn't seem to be an individual choice, more of a game plan. Therein lies the problem. I'm picking on this one individual because he was playing a role nearest to the away supporters and in the best view, but man to man they fell to the ground so frequently it was hard not to mimic Ray Wilkins' overused catchphrase. Their number 41, Fernando Forestini (also on loan from Udinese), was also a main culprit especially during the first half when again in plain view of us.

It was quite evident during the second half how much the traveling support had got to Neuton. His interpretation of the law of motion included force, velocity, mass, and most importantly, downward movement.

I am of course deriving this opinion of Watford's tactics solely on the basis of one match, however if this is a week by week event i feel sorry for their, largely silent, fans. In that particular respect Vicarage Road was very similar to Craven Cottage. I would rather see a team lose every week whilst trying to play football in a largely legal fashion than see a team battle for promotion immorally. If you look again at Watford's third goal they played some lovely football and are obviously more than capable of doing it 'the right way', which makes the niggly stuff even more infuriating.

For our third goal, and to pull level, Ricardo Fuller did wonderfully well in the box 'staying on his feet' (as Ceddy Evina had done earlier for our second) when he could so easily have gone down hoping Mr Kettle would take pity and point to the spot. A small little victory for real football.

As for the game itself, what can i say. Seven 'legal' goals, three more disallowed, a real roller coaster of emotions. Credit must go to the groundsman for what can only be described as a gorgeous looking playing surface, enhanced by the glorious winter sunshine.

After sloppy defending for the Watford opener Charlton showed great resilience coming from behind twice and leading at half time. The Johnnie Jackson header that sealed it from a corner was strong, determined and summed up everything about the Addicks performance. This had been coming for a while and once again was helped by awesome vocal support. It was our turn to be the twelfth man, in much the same way as we had been for the home fixture against Cardiff back in November. The youngsters down the front, the Red Division, were superb and was was fitting to hear a song in respect of the Captain, a old diehard away traveler who regrettably died earlier in the week from cancer.

I had a good feeling about the game before it kicked off expecting to snatch a win and witnessing two very drab sides not fully awake due to the early kick off after the new year celebrations. We didn't snatch the win really though, no matter what order the goals went in. From midway through the first half Charlton wanted this and were stamping their name on the game. Just look at Jackson's face as he celebrated the winner, not to mention the fist clenched air punching from the whole side as they thanked the supporters at the final whistle. It was a momentous Charlton result, almost to the point of being season defining. We knew it in the stands, they knew it on the pitch.

Jordan Cook picked up a rare outing coming on for Lawrie Wilson who had to leave the field with a facial injury whilst the compelling Fuller gave way for Rob Hulse, making his Charlton farewell having now returned to parent club QPR. The charismatic Frimpong has also left the club returning to Arsenal. I have to be honest and admit my disappointment at seeing Hulse go. He may not be a big scorer but reads the game well, can supply a deft touch and runs his socks off. A very type-cast Charlton forward really.

After the game myself, Jim, Spanish, Catford Dave, Crispy and fellow Charlton bloggers Hungry Ted and Marco enjoyed a few real ale's as you do both in Watford and then back in Euston. As days out at the football go, this was right up there with the best of them. Thank you lads.

Now the transfer window is open be prepared for either a coming or going this afternoon, Chris Powell always waits for ten minutes after i post before announcing some breaking news. I don't hold that against him, or in fact hold anything against him after masterminding such a fantastic result Tuesday.

No explanation needed

Kiss me quick!

It's been a funny old week, both for me and my football team. I've had a poor performance with results to match whilst Charlton have played superbly with mixed fortunes.

The dreaded misery that is man flu took it's ugly grip on me at the beginning of the week, assigning me to my bed for a couple of days. It would have been longer if my attendance at work hadn't been vital to the cause on Friday.

I therefore not only missed the action at The Valley on Tuesday evening in the flesh, but i also slept through the radio commentary too!
I took from the game that Charlton bossed the majority of the match, despite the 1-2 scoreline, Watford's Italian contingent did a fair impersonation of Tom Daley, and finally, we really need to take our chances at this level.

A trip to free scoring, high flying Blackpool was just what we needed then. In some respects, there was a little less pressure on us to get a result than there was on Tuesday, but two good performances at home still count for something. We would either get the reward these showings have been promising or we'd get a hiding.
I hate to admit it but i was expecting the latter.

Chris Powell decided it was time to shake things up a little, most notably by dropping Bradley Wright-Phillips to the bench and switching to a 4-5-1 formation. New boy Abdul Razak was his replacement coming into the centre of the midfield.

Charlton's solid performance was back and on display in the first half but once again the chances came and went. Fortunately Blackpool were wasteful with theirs too. Ricardo Fuller came the closest when his header came off the underside of the bar. That was the best moment of the first forty five.

The worst moment once again involved a players personal misery. We'll have to find space in an already crowded treatment room back in the capital as Danny Green came off after only around twenty minutes becoming the latest member of the Charlton cripple club.

It was the second period when things really came to life. Only three minutes in and Charlton were in front. Leon Cort once again found the net with his head from a Stephens corner. The Charlton traveling support were, for not the first time, coming through loud and clear on the radio (were there any home fans at the game? It sounded like Craven Cottage), and twitter was already full of tweets urging us to hang on! We really don't have too much faith in holding onto a lead.

We did hang on though, Fuller giving a professional display up front warranting a man of the match accolade. Charlton wrapped it up as Chris Solly scored the second with a sweet right foot drive from around twenty yards out.
As they quite correctly mentioned on the radio, it's a goal that ,with time, will be noted as being further and further out.

The emergence of both 1998 play off final veteran  Kevin Phillips and the very talented Tom Ince off the bench failed to inspire Blackpool to a comeback and Charlton clung on (as we do) to three very welcomed points on the road lifting us to a much more respectable fifteenth in the table as we go into an international break.

After a week of Chris Powell receiving criticism from a certain portion of the Charlton support he's shown that he's quite happy to drop a 'name', quite prepared to try a different approach and quite correct to tell us all to have patience.

I believe he knows what he's doing, i never doubted him for a moment. Honest.

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."

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!

Shhh!

Boo boys always get silenced. Fact. Jermaine Defoe is guaranteed a goal when lining up against Charlton. It's an unwritten rule.

How satisfying must it be from a players perspective, after listening to supporters boo your every touch, to then run up to the noisiest, ugliest of the bunch and hold your finger to your lips. Just ask Yann.
The only other thing he could of done was to sing 'over land and sea, and Leicester at them', but in French i believe that loses something in translation.

It all stems from a penalty miss during a shoot out against Cardiff in the play off semi's, although it must have really had a deep effect on one Leicester fan who had far too much time on his hands judging by this song.

Pundits are often heard saying the best way to answer critics is to do it on the field of play. Last night Kermorgant quietly said 'I'm better than you' to the 1600 in the Jimmy Seed stand. We booed their left sided full back a little in the safe knowledge he doesn't score many goals.

Although the good performance and the point at Birmingham had given us a confident start, we really didn't know what to expect on Tuesday evening against one of the bookmakers favourites for promotion, Leicester City. A match that Chris Powell would have been relishing when the fixtures were announced.

It wasn't just Kermorgant and the gaffer this stood out to though, Michael Morrison had a spell with the Foxes whilst Paul Konchesky (even though he's getting on a little, i still want to call him 'young Paul Konchesky') did the opposite and last night returned to where it all began.

Another footballer to make an appearance on The Valley turf was Ricardo Fuller, unveiled to the fans at half time, who we had learnt in the Rose of Denmark prior to the match had signed for the club yesterday.
An experienced head at this level, it's not just about the earrings but the strength he'll bring to the squad, he won't be content keeping the bench warm.
Signed on a one year deal, the 32 year old will insist on giving Powell some selection problems. Our strikers will see it as even more pressure to get their shooting boots on and find a rich vein of form.
If this was Chris Powell's intention, it was a masterstroke.

Leicester started well but Charlton got stronger and stronger as the minutes ticked by, spurred on by a great atmosphere from the home support. A disappointing crowd of under 17,000, that made the noise of double that.

Eighteen minutes in and what appeared to be a bit of a speculative shot from Bradley Wright-Phillips found the back of the net. Just under a quarter of an hour later Yann Kermorgant did the same with a similar kind of effort. Cue the big man's celebrations.

The Valley was rocking, it could have been more than two, as Leon Cort tried to emulate what he had done on Saturday but was thwarted by the keeper..........Kasper, you're a ghost, Kasper Kasper you're a ghost........

Leicester boss Nigel Pearson made a couple of changes at the interval after what i guess was a fierce dressing down to a shell shocked team. It worked.
We looked very stretched at times during the second half as Leicester played some lovely football. They passed the ball around with confidence and set up chance after chance.
Andy King, not the Everton legend but the Welsh lad, was one of the arrivals after the break. Less than ten minutes later he'd pulled one back.

Charlton weren't going to give this up without a fight though. We all sang 'we all dream of a team of Kermorgants' yet in reality we had eleven hero's on the pitch. Rhoys Wiggins showed great vision going forward, Hamer did what he needed to do comfortably and without unnecessary flapping, and Bradley Pritchard looked totally at home on the right. It's hard to believe this lad was playing for Hayes and Yeading just over a year ago.

Someone at the heart of our rear guard though was immense last night. Michael Morrison, was a tower of strength putting in a collection of challenges and breaking down wave after wave of attacks.

There was a time when only the nimblest of fancy footwork superstars could wear coloured boots. I appreciate these days you can only purchase black boots from a referee's outfitters, but to wear orange boots still makes a bold statement of courage in my eyes.
We saw at Brentford last season some of the magic footwork Morrison is capable of. Last night we saw some more as the centre half threw in a couple of delicate step overs as he brought the ball out of defence.
Near the end Morrison went in bravely and came away with blood on the face forcing the ref to restart with us down to ten as the defender was cleaned up on the sidelines. The second half, as a whole, saw the tackles getting harder and harder as a mixture of desperation and desire got the better of both sides.

I never thought anyone would challenge the great Eddie Youds in my own Charlton hall of fame. How that particular scouser must be clinging on to this mantle with just a little sweat starting to appear on the brow...........

As the clock ticked down, my compatriot Jim stood next to me finding it harder and harder to watch. It had the feeling of a cup tie or an end of season six pointer, even their keeper was coming up for a corner.............in August!

The relief at the final whistle was staggering, you couldn't do that week in week out, could you?
I'd predicted we'd get one point out of our first two games, we got four. And Palace are bottom.
You've just have to smile!

Hull Saturday......

Come on you reds!