Charlton Athletic 1 v Sheffield Wednesday 2

Classic Charlton performance this. Not classic in the sense of memorable you understand, more just classic Charlton. You don't really need a report, if you've watched Charlton for long enough you can pretty much imagine what happened and that will be close enough.

Sheffield Wednesday started positively for a side that got tanned 6-0 on their last game away from Hillsbrough. It looked like bluster and so it proved midway through the first half when Luke Varney stroked home the opener after a Bailey free-kick was knocked down and fell at Luke's big toe. Within the space of ten minutes it should have been 2-0 and we could have sat back and enjoyed the rest of the game. Linvoy Primus had already struck the inside of the post from a 15 yard header and Luke Varney managed to hit the same post with only Grant to beat in the Wednesday goal. The ball cannoned off the post and across the box to Andy Gray in acres of space. Somehow, Gray could only balloon his shot over the bar and Wednesday had survived. 

We then had five minutes or so before Wade Small ran thirty yards towards goal, escorted by three Charlton players who looked content to let him run as he had no other support. Small was obviously aware of that too because he kept going and got in a cross-shot as Mark Hudson finally made the challenge. The ball left Weaver looking all square and went in off the far post. Worse followed a couple of minutes later when Wednesday again found our glass chin and this time Marcus Tudgay seized his chance and thumped the ball past a helpless Nicky Weaver. Nicky Bailey and Hameur Bouazza were left screaming abuse at one another but the damage was done.

Two-one down at half-time and Wednesday had something to defend and only 45 minutes to waste. We tried to get something going in the second half but it was all a bit frantic. Bouazza hit the side netting and Varney came close. Lloyd Sam and Hameur Bouazza tried to make up for poor first halves but nothing was going for us. Nicky Bailey had a quiet game and poor Matt Holland had doing all the work in the middle. Eventually Pardew made his substitutions and threw on Ambrose and Todorov for Gray and Primus. This meant Holland dropping to centre-half, but I guess we had nothing else to lose at that stage. Todorov didn't look fit to me and Ambrose only touched the ball twice in sending in long-range shots which did at least come close to the goal-frame. Our pressure deserved an equaliser but there just wasn't enough quality or composure to get one. The final shuffle was to get Grant Basey on at left-back and Kelly Youga went to right-back to allow Cranie to leave the field. 

More tomorrow when I have calmed down.