Sunday 16 August 2015

Derby County 1 v Charlton Athletic 1

Late posting today as I headed out after the game yesterday for a drink up town with a couple of returning Addicks so I could get a first-hand account of our battling draw.

I followed the match commentary on line with Sky on in the background. It sounded like we took a bit of a battering and the match stats showed the Rams had 26 efforts to our 9. However, Mexico Vic and Dave the Train were more upbeat and said we gave a solid away performance at a promotion contenders, so I am happy with that.

There were no major surprises with the line-up yesterday with Tony Watt starting and Jordan Cousins returning in central midfield in place of Ba. It sounded like most acquitted themselves honourably although Cristian Ceballos has drawn widespread ridicule for a corner he took that is being described as the worst ever taken. He managed to send it into the crowd way before the goal and it lacked pace as well as direction. He also missed an early opportunity when he put his shot over the bar. Probably too early to jump to conclusions but he looked lightweight in the two games I have seen.

Simon Makienok is also dividing opinion. He played Watt on for our goal yesterday but his main contribution again appeared to be defensive duties. Early days, but we need him to pull his attacking weight as Tony Watt can't be expected to score every week and with Igor a continuing injury worry, scoring goals could again become a problem for us.

Other than that, we are fourth and unbeaten, so what not to like? Forest away on Tuesday is a game we should be looking forward to, especially if we can shackle Antonio who dragged forest back into it yesterday. Hull City next Saturday also gives us another opportunity to stamp our good start with another ex -PL scalp in front of what should be another decent gate. I will be entertaining a couple of Tigers for the day, so hope the hospitality finishes in the pub before kick-off.

Finally, I report on a huge police presence at Charlton station last night as we tumbled off at midnight. must have been forty officers with back-up vehicles and a helicopter. They were on both platforms and appeared ready for trouble. My guess is they were planning on stopping the next train....

1 comment:

  1. Simon M had at least two chances to score on Saturday he had one shot saved (could have placed it better) and he put a header just over (should have been on target). BUT... if he continues to get chances he's going to score a good few. I really can't see the problem people have with him, he's got pretty good touch for a big guy and he contributing all over the pitch.

    ReplyDelete

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