Struggled up a congested M1 earlier today in order to join protesting Coventry fans who have had the stuffing knocked out of them over the last ten failing years by owners SISU. A coachload load of Addicks arrived prior to the 2pm march to the ground and they were warmly greeted with a round of applause by several hundred Sky Blue fans at the Cherry trees club.
Along with maybe fifty Charlton fans already there, maybe 500 fans in total walked together carrying respective banners and placards. The march made its way down towards the Ricoh Arena and we were handed spongy pigs before getting to the ground. An accompanying policeman helpfully told us to conceal the pigs well as the Stewards had been instructed to search us on entry. At the turnstiles we were all frisked and pigs were bouncing out from pockets in all directions, but at kick-off hundreds rained down from both sets of supporters congregated at one end of the stadium. The match was halted and then the referee went to the unnecessary step of taking all the players off for five additional minutes before play eventually resumed.
As expected, it wasn't much of a match. Charlton saw more possession but Coventry took the lead towards the end of the first-half. Byrne head onto the Coventry bar from a superb Dasilva cross when he should have buried it. After the break the match continued in a similar fashion with the pony-tailed pairing of Holmes and Jones running the show for their respective sides. Bauer headed an unlikely looking Charlton equaliser and when the lively Jodi Jones was replaced by Kyle Reid you knew the match was over.
Sorry to be the ones to relegate our suffering hosts but I think they knew it was all over for them bar the shouting. A threatened pitch invasion by the disgruntled locals was faced down by serried ranks of stewards and police. The point effectively makes us safe given the number of sides still needing two wins plus to overhaul us. Nonetheless, it's been another miserably thin season and one we will look back on and thank Kevin Nugent for the seven vital points he won for us in the three matches he was caretaker manager sandwiched between the conservatively boring Russell Slade and the bull-shittingly hopeless Karl Robinson.
My son was on the CARD coach Dave - said the march was the highlight of the day (it has been on quite a few occasions) and that Rudd won us the point. My missus kept him company on the coach and then after the march went shopping (!) - she says the local retail park was very busy, which makes the empty Ricoh even sadder by comparison. Suspect it is the same at the local retail park to the Valley. The past few years have been very painful, but I have developed a real bond with the fans of Cov, Burnley and Brighton.
ReplyDeletePembury Addick
Glad to see he's being brought up proper like we was.
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