Charlton Athletic 4 v Bristol Rovers 2

Charlton collected another three precious points in an incident-filled match at the Valley this evening. The headlines will rightly belong to the fussy and ultimately incompetent referee, Mr Cook, who did his best to ruin the game.

It started so brightly as the Addicks came flying out of the traps and went two up within 15 minutes. The expected back-four of Basey, Llera, Dailly and Youga were making it look like a training game. Youga was eating space on the right and a sure-footed Lloyd Sam was creating havoc ahead of him. After three minutes he cut through the Rovers back-line for the third time and his cross found Burton who whipped a shot at Anderson that he could not hold and there was David Mooney steaming in at the far post to notch the second of his loan spell. After a quarter of an hour Charlton got their second from the spot after Llera was pushed going up for a corner-kick. It looked soft to me but the pernicketty Mr Cook had already spoken to the aggressive Baldwin immediately prior to the corner being taken about the attention he was paying to Llera, so they brought it upon themselves.

Nicky Bailey and Jose Semedo had the grip of the midfield and at that point, it was only more posing from Shelvey that threatened to let the side down. I don't know why Racon was dropped but Shelvey didn'toffer anymore on the left wing. Just after twenty minutes Kelly Youga had to go off and Elliot Omozusi came on and I am sorry to say we lost all momentum as a result. Omozusi was all over the place; his first touch was awful, he couldn't find a red shirt over anything more than four yards away and he was promptly booked as well. We still should have wrapped it up following a scramble in the Bristol goalmouth, when a Burton shot from a prone position had beaten Anderson but Mooney was too close and he couldn't get out of the way and inadvertantly blocked the shot.

Rovers seized their chance and came back into the match. Coles fired a twenty yarder that Ikeme did well to push away but all of a sudden we were in a game and didn't Mr Cook then decide to level things up a little by giving a penalty against Christian Dailly just before the break. I will have to see what it was for but Dailly also went into the book, so I am assuming he was equally unimpressed with the quality of the refereeing.

We came out for the second period defending a one-goal lead but with Dailly and Omozusi on yellows and Rovers sensing their opportunity, we came under pressure from the restart and it was no surprise when they levelled after 56 minutes. Yet another corner was swung across the six yard box and with Ikeme rooted to his line, Chris Lines beat a clutch of players to the header and he powered it down and up into the top left-hand corner. Rovers then briefly sensed victory when a good chance fell to Jeff Hughes but he dragged his shot wide of Ikeme.

Warning well and truly served, it was time to roll some sleeves up and get back to work and that's just what Charlton did. Lloyd Sam broke down the left and cut in to cross for Mooney who's close-range header beat Anderson but hit the bar and bounced off the line. He got another header in which was blocked but as it fell in the six yard box, there was Nicky Bailey busting his lungs to get on the end of it and ram the loose ball in for 3-2.

There was then time for Cook to book his 7th or was the 8th player of the game? Lines had already been booked but he went in again for good measure. The Addicks faithful were chanting "Off, Off, Off" but Cook didn't show a red card. The Rovers players looked stunned by the decision and with half the ground booming out "he's got two yellows," Charlton forced a corner that was whipped into the six yard box where Akpo Sodje slid in to make it two in two and end the game as a contest. Scott Wagstaff came on for Shelvey and he swapped wings with Lloyd Sam. Wagstaff did a lot of good running with the ball to help run the clock down for our seventh home win.

Lucky Leeds scored another last gasp winner to beat the O's but with Millwall being pegged back at Exeter and MK Dons going down to their third successive defeat, this was good night's work from Charlton. Huddersfield also lost at Swindon, so it was only really Colchester and Norwich who kept pace with us following their home wins.

Brighton next Tuesday now takes on added significance and I will be making the trip after all to, hopefully, see the mini-revival continue with Millwall and Christmas approaching. I am praying that Rob Elliot will be fit enough to return and that Fraser Richardson or Kelly Youga are ready to resume at right-back. It would be good to extend David Mooney's loan period but Fulham can have Omozusi back and judging by the number of Charlton players arguing with him in the second-half over his positioning and play, there won't be too many sorry to see him go.