Charlton Athletic 2 v Brentford 0

If matches were decided on the number of corners won, then Brentford would have romped this. Unfortunately for the Bees they are decided on goals scored and whilst they came with a lot of intent and endeavour, they were fatally short on genuine attempts at goal and needed more time on the ball to finish than we we going to give them.

It was an enjoyable game without being a rip-roarer. The fact that we cruised to a 2-0 lead inside half-an-hour probably didn't help and as we failed to score in the opening fifteen minutes of the second-half saw the match petered out as we slowed things down. No complaints from me however, as a previously unbeaten Brentford will win plenty of games this season and we will look back on this as a good result.

Throughout the match we played a number of deep crossfield balls into the path of Lloyd Sam and he caught most of them and caused the Brentford defence all sorts of problems. The TV commentators must have had a field day here, especially with the Charlton goals. The first was the third crossfield ball of the day, from Llera and Sam put the full-back under pressure. His weak touch back to Lewis Price was fatal as Lloyd accelerated onto the ball and raced to the line before looking up and picking out Deon Burton ten yards out in space. Burton couldn't believe his luck and with Price and a defender on the line knew he couldn't miss. He didn't hit the ball cleanly and it struck one of them as it went in but it did go in and the the immediate pressure was off.

We then settled down to play some superb stuff on the deck, especially across midfield as rehearsed routines were put together and the Bees were left chasing shadows. Semedo had a tigerish game and roamed around like a battleship with the ball holding players off and creating space for Racon to slide the ball about. Nicky Bailey came in off the left flank when he wasn't being prompted to go forward by Kelly Youga and he also played his part in defence, especially at corners where he cleared a succession of near-post balls.

The second goal was coming and what a joy it was to watch. We heard after the game that the Sky pundits were purring about the 15 passes which lead to a through-ball from Burton to Lloyd Sam who angled his run and burst onto the ball to fire low and hard passed the stranded Price. A contender for goal of the season was Scott Minto's view and I will look forward to watching it again and again once I have renewed my CAFC TV subscription. Brentford had a penalty appeal when the ball struck Nicky Bailey's hand. It looked like ball to hand to me, but I understand that the Sky commentators were all agreed it was a indeed a penalty and a text from a Millwall mate in Cyprus was adamant it was a "stonewall pen." Just the sort of decision that goes in your favour when you are on a roll.

That was really it until half-time although Brentford kept pressing and whilst they created a number of promising positions, they invariably had to slow things down for more support because of a fast-covering and swift tackling Charlton back-four. Richardson had his best game since he's been here and provided excellent support for the midfield. Dailly and Llera are very comfortable together. Dailly looks like this is a clear level beneath what he's still capable of and Llera, whilst not always the most comfortable looking player on the ball is still very effective in a Jorge Costa type of way which is the best compliment I can pay him.

We started the second-half strongly and with intent, creating three good chances to wrap it up but Jonjo, Deon and Nicky Bailey were all foiled. The Bees continued to press but they really weren't creating anything. Carl Cort is a true beanpole and you would think he would be the target for every ball into the box. However, their crossing, especially from corners, looked like hit and hope to me and he only really got on the end of three during the entire game. He glanced one wide of the post in the first half and had a superb thumping header spectacularly pawed clear but a high-diving Elliott late on. That save prevented the match turning into a nail-biter although we would have been extremely unfortunate to have conceded a second based on Brentford's lack of real threat up until then had Cort scored.

Lloyd Sam was cleverly substituted before the end so that he could milk the applause and it was good to see him welcome Scott Wagstaff onto the pitch. Izale McLeod also got on for Jonjo who again played slightly less well than we know he can. I had expected more following his signature of a third year to his existing contract which is surely all about protecting our interests for the future. McLeod was again frustrated as he forced a good stop from Lewis and then scored only to see the offside flag disallow it. The Bees pinged a free-kick off the bar before the end but I think Elliot would have got to it had it been low enough to threaten the net.

Brentford's fans deserve a mention too, as they were superb throughout. They brought about 1600 and got behind their team from start to finish giving them a standing ovation as they left the field. The honeymoon of promotion is clearly still running strong in West London. The dozen or so we bumped into in a pub at London Bridge were still enjoying their day and were very complimentary about the Addicks performance even though they believed their possession deserved more. It was hard to argue with that (even though I did).

Leeds beat Stockport 2-0 to stay on our tail and they managed this without Jermaine Beckford scoring. Next Friday they travel to Southend where I am hoping they will lose their 100% record and leave us with the opportunity we crave on Saturday to go clear at the summit. Southampton are visiting and the word in the pub after the game was one of caution. I don't think I am getting carried away but I don't see the threat. They have managed only four draws so far and would be in the bottom three on merit even if it wasn't for their ten point deduction. Alan Pardew's appearance will create a crackle in the atmosphere and I suspect a number of our players will want to stick it to him for themselves as well as for Phil Parkinson. I am going for a seventh straight victory and a convincing one at that.

We also drew League-top table-toppers Barnet in the Johnson Paint Trophy. A side who beat a Charlton Xl pre-season at their place. They will have to do it again at the Valley this time and I suspect we will field a stronger side for this one. There is a good ruling in this competition that limits you to varying your side too much from one game to the next. I think you have to stick with at least six players, so our intent in this competition should be obvious from the side selected to play Barnet. Bearing in mind our start and the fact that we are only four matches from Wembley, I think we should take this competition seriously.

To round off a near-perfect day, I got to watch Scotland squeeze a two-nil win over World Cup qualification rivals Macedonia whilst being light-heartedly taunted in the pub after the Charlton win. A rare Charlton-Scotland double. Great those lunchtime kick-offs eh?