A hard-fought cup-tie at Griifin Park this evening finished 0-0 at full time. The tie was then decided on penalties and Richard Lee won it single-handedly by saving Charlton's first three kicks. Elliot saved Brentford's third attempt but Gary Alexander slid the fourth in to win it. Johnnie Jackson's first penalty was saved as he once again went for power down the middle and Lee stood still to block the blaster. He acknowledged afterwards that the Bees goalkeeping coach, Simon Royce, told him beforehand what to do if Jackson took one.
The Charlton performance was an improvement on Sunday although it would have been difficult to imagine eleven players managing to play as poorly again. The match was short on goal scoring opportunities for either side but Brentford should have won it at the death when they hit the bar and missed two others. We can have few complaints on the night and simply lacked the quality to open Brentford up. I can only remember one first-half effort on target from Kyel Reid.
Looking for positives, we have obviously saved ourselves two southern final legs against Exeter in the New Year and Carl Jenkinson had a very impressive right-back debut. The defence looked better as a result and with Dailly returning we looked less fragile. The game was lost for me in midfield where it was hard to see what formation we were playing. McCormack looked to have been given a free role and our only outlet was Reid on the left wing. Semedo and Racon failed to give us any time or space and it ws all too frantic. Martin had another shrugging, spitting and muttering performance as he failed to make any impression. Pawel Abbott did nothing once again either, so all-in-all we got what we deserved.
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4-5 Dave?
ReplyDeleteThanks CA. Started my post as the match finishing and it was positive thinking from me. By the time I rattled it off, the power of positive thinking argument had been well and truly quashed. Glad you're up late and I'm up early :)
ReplyDeleteWell we didn't get the spanking i was expecting, by 'eck we were crap though.
ReplyDeleteMy only consolation was that Brentford matched us for crapness. Sure they had good ten minute spell at the end and probably should have won it then. Prior to that they showed no more quality than us.
I'm hoping the Hartlepool game falls foul of the weather. Our team need some time on the training pitch being taught how to pass to a player wearing the same colour shirt!
LOL. 24 hour non-stop Charlton coverage eh?
ReplyDelete"He acknowledged afterwards that the Bees goalkeeping coach, Simon Royce, told him beforehand what to do if Jackson took one."
ReplyDeleteAnd my son who plays in goal said exactly same based on where Jackson placed his last two penalties. He also noted that the only one of our penalty takers who looked in a different direction from which the penalty was actually taken was Docherty - goalkeepers are trained to look at the penalty takers eyes. All suggests a lack of preparation on our part I'm afraid - as does the fact that we are totally unable to hit any crosses with pace that clear the first man.
Agree that Jenkinson was impressive - also learned quickly from a few positional mistakes. Does this make Francis the 3rd choice right back?