Sunday 24 September 2017

Charlton Athletic 1 V Bury 1

Another disappointing performance and result against a club and side we arrogantly believe we are better than and whom we should be beating. There is so much more to it than that but many can't see it.

We had a terrible start and a poor half having fallen behind to a fine curling shot from distance from the old stager, Jermaine Beckford. Big Josh headed a decent equaliser but we simply didn't have enough threat or dominance to win it. There were less than 10,000 there and the general feedback was that we look increasingly  more likely to be mid-table mediocrity than play-off, let alone automatic promotion contenders.

I was down in Goring-on-sea at Addict Pete's and we spent a fantastic afternoon strolling the streets of Arundel and walking our dogs out along the Arun before catching the second-half of a match at Worthing RFC. The news from the Valley once again confirmed that I am missing little this season as another Duchatelet annus horriblis unfolds.  I was also receiving regular updates from Havant & Waterlooville where the Wings won an exciting battle 3-2 in a game that sounded like it had everything, goals, a double sending-off and a penalty save.

Karl Robinson's post-match press conference was once again a mixture of the strange and the ridiculous.  He now seems to be open to the opinion his squad has limitations in direct contradiction of his early season pronouncements of how he now had what he has wanted all along and that we would be making a serious promotion challenge. He told us, too, that Bury are in a false position in the league, although I am not sure many would agree or that the table will look much different for them in 2018. The funniest line, though, has to be his statement that "an injury allowed us to change shape - we went from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3." It made no difference of course but that's Karl trying to tell us he has a Plan B but that it took an injury to try and which didn't work because we only have one out-and-out goalscorer who isn't prolific!

Two away games now at Walsall on Tuesday and Fleetwood on Saturday. We would do well to win one of these given current form although some will say these are minnows we should be rolling over, just like Bury. The truth is, we are a shrinking club whose squad of players are League One plodders in totality.

2 comments:

  1. As you can no doubt guess Dave, you missed an absolute cracker at Havant.
    Topped off with a 80s throwback with mandatory 657 tattoo on his neck made a completely comedy "Wealdstone raider" afternoon complete.
    Both home and away mocking him put the icing on the cake.
    Absolutely gutted the way Charlton has gone, even more so when my son has adamantly stated Welling is his team.
    Unfortunatly, it has now become mine.
    To see the comaraderie between team/chairman/managers/supporters after the game, only reminds me of distant Charlton memories.
    Oh for the Lawrence/Curbs days and fans/players interaction.

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  2. Any injuries up front and I think killer could get a game

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