Tuesday 25 March 2014

Nottingham Forest 0 v Charlton Athletic 1

Jordan Cousins was in the right place at the right time this evening to knock in the rebound from a Jonathan Obika shot which had cannoned off the post and out across goal. It was only Charlton's second goal in the last seven games but crucially it was the second winner. It came eight minutes from time and it killed off a hapless Forest side.

It was an awkward evening for anyone tuning in to the night's results as Yeovil lead for a long time at table-toppers Leicester before conceding an equaliser. Barnsley won at Reading and until we scored things looked bleak. The Lions rolled over at the New Den once again and have gone bottom of the table, although they are on level points now with Barnsley and Yeovil. 

All-of-a-sudden, we are three points clear of the three below and we have three games in hand. The gap to those above us remains but the job now is clearer than it has ever been. We now have a chance to effectively kill off the sides below us. Another win at a Derby or a Leeds and we will effectively be on a count-down. Wins at home over Barnsley or Yeovil could then all but settle it.

Whilst the folly of selling Yann Kermorgant looms larger than ever (he scored two more tonight), our defence deserves massive credit for again keeping a clean sheet. They really are good enough to get us out of this division if they didn't have to defend for so long in every game. Ben Hamer kept us in it this evening with two fine saves which should serve further warning against temptation to dabble with Thuran-Ulien.

Derby will be a bigger Test on Saturday but the win tonight may ease the pressure on our players and like this evening, it looks like we could be playing Leeds at just the right time as they implode behind the scenes.

Come on Charlton, we can do this!

1 comment:

  1. Dave

    Apart from their win against Forest on Saturday, Derby are on a grim run of form too, managing only one goal over 5 of the last 6 games.

    Martin Cowan

    ReplyDelete

Go on, you know you want to....