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!

Everything's all white now!

It's felt like a long time coming, but last night i attended my first football match since Hartlepool's visit to The Valley back in May.

And did i need it! As wonderful as the European Championships, the Wimbledon fortnight and, of course, London 2012 were (and still are as we win a shooting gold plus a first and second in the canoeing as i speak), there is nothing quite like watching your team play.

I'm as keen as the next person to jump on the Team GB bandwagon, but club football and in particular Charlton Athletic are where my heart and soul lay.
Yes I'd been counting the days away (or sleeps as is the current trend) for my first trip to The Broadfield Stadium, named after a less than desirable part of West Sussex's 'new town'.

Living on the doorstep of Gatwick airport, this was in fact the most local game i will attend all season and was only a short bus ride away. Last time i was able to get the bus to a Charlton fixture we played our home games in SE25.
I can't find any place in my heart for my local side though. I'm not from Crawley, i just live here now and last night's visit did nothing to change that. Not that there was much wrong with the ground or i suspect the club now a certain person has left, but there wasn't much to write home about either.
A club that we feel has bought success, everything i saw last night felt very average at best. I'm sure if you're there week in week out you get a different feel for it.

Just a few hours before kick off as i sampled a beer in The White Hart in the town centre, Charlton announced their third signing of the summer.
Free agent and trialist Salim Kerkar, a 25 year old French Algerian, signed a one year contract with the club after impressing in the games in Spain and North London of late.
French speaking, he'll be relying on big Yann Kermorgant for companionship off the field, whilst his experience with Rangers last season in the SPL will prove valuable on it.

Another new signing helps put our minds at rest as we've had another name depart the boardroom this week. Charlton Life has been full of doom and gloom, stories of the gaffer close to walking out and the money long since run out.
We'll just have to wait and see if their is any truth in the rumours, i think I'd rather be in the dark than spend my days worrying. This does all seem to be part of the modern game for all clubs outside of the elite few. If you believed everything you read on-line we'd be in a worse position than Glasgow's 'newco'!

A much stronger squad travelled down from London than the one that visited Bury Town the previous evening, with just the one unfamiliar name in Dorian Dervite playing at the heart of the defence. Once on the books of Tottenham, he had a spell on loan at Southend before moving to Spain.
He has played at all levels up to under 21 for the French national team, but don't make the mistake i made, Dorian from Birds of a Feather is a different person entirely.
He looked solid though, i hope he stays around for a run out at Gillingham as well.

Running out in the new black away kit, Charlton certainly looked smart, no-one more so than Ben Hamer in his white goalkeeping attire. Even after a couple of diving saves this particular number seemed to still be gleaming. I can see mums all over South London loving this one!
Nearly as impressive as his shirt was his Barnet. Looking like a member of a boy band, his 'extra strong hold' hairspray never faultered, his whole persona seemed as clean cut at half time as it did at kick off.

The second half saw him in front of the home terracing so I'm not so sure how it handled the torrential rain we enjoyed towards the end. It's possible he went from catalogue boy to Catweazle but i doubt it.

We stood directly behind the goal, it was the decision of the lads i was with, and as my eyes get older i find looking through obstacles a little harder. The action up the other end of the park was quite difficult to make out at times, yet Danny Green's perfect free kick midway through the first forty five was clear for all to see.
A well taken set piece, it was the moment of the match, yet Crawley were no pushovers and threw a lot back at us in search of an equalizer.
The almost famous Sergio Torres looked threatening for periods for the home side but as the game got into it's last quarter changes came thick and fast for both sides taking the sting out of it. At one point i think Crawley made about six at once at which point we kind of gave up trying to follow it.

It is always pleasing to win, our pre season has been better than normal in this respect and we have of course another clean sheet. This is all made even more satisfying in the knowledge that Millwall lost on this same ground last Saturday. I believe Brighton have a local derby there a week tomorrow, another stern test for the League One new boys.

A good crowd of over 1400 watched the game, three of whom certainly won't forget me in a rush.
As i was releasing one of my pre match beers in the Gents just before the interval my phone rang. Being a modern man I'm quite capable of turning my hand to a little multi tasking, so i answered the call from my wife.
'Ello darling said i and with that three lads turned and stared at me. Lots of laughing ensued as i think i talked my way out of that one.

The call was an offer of a lift home as the rain was getting heavier and heavier. We were treated to a brief respite at the final whistle but as i waited for the car the cats and dogs came back.
So quarter past ten and i was home from an evening Charlton game, unheard of. And that included stopping at the local kebab shop en route.

My season has started and I'm loving it already!