Charlton were beaten for the first time this season when they went down 3-1 at Forest Green Rovers. Rovers coasted to a two-nil half-time lead against a strong Charlton line-up of Randolph, Wagstaff, Basey, Aaron Brown (triallist from Lincoln), Fortune, Semedo, Stavrinou, Spring, Fleetwood, McLeod and Dickson.
Brown had to be withdrawn within the opening 30 minutes as he was suffering from a virus, which begs the question why he was played in the first place. Yado Mambo replaced him and Wade Small also got a showing as Alex Stavrinou had to limp off. The rumours around Charlton's interest in Small were obviously well founded. Teenager Jack Clark came on for Jon Fortune for the second half and youngsters Ben Davisson and Liam Bellamy got run-outs for Mcleod and Small, who therefore had the distinction of being subbed as a sub. Charlton did at least get a goal back through Chris Dickson but a late third for Rovers left more than a few red faces as the Addicks left Gloucestershire.
A modest crowd of 700 was barely swelled by only a 100 or so travelling Addicks. You shouldn't read too much into friendlies of course but it's hard to see this as anything other than a poor day out. We appear to be trying to fashion a side from the bottom of other clubs barrels. Roll on the takeover.
I thought it significant that the better performances on the day come from our youngsters. Certainly Mambo looked comfortable at this level and Davidson impreesed in the short time he had. I was disappointed we didn't play kids more often last season, but at this level there should be no excuse for ignoring them. Better and cheaper surely than free transfer cast-offs.
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