Three cheers for Johnnie Jackson

I only caught part of the match last night as I was enjoying a rare night out with the drinking crew from 1980-2000. However, from the moment Conor Washington sprung the offside trap and tore into the six yard area I began to breathe more easily. His flick-back at head height was perfect for the steaming Stockley who beat two attendants to steer it home. When I saw we had gone two-up I could relax and enjoy the company of two fellow Addicks safe in the knowledge that there was no bait for the three Millwall and one Arsenal fan.

From what I saw of it, Gateshead gave us a good game and were unlucky not to have scored. Fortune favours the brave and we were brave. Jackson picked a strong line-up and went to win the the game. Personally I am delighted that Johnnie Jackson has arrested the criminal Cup decline over the last ten years. Bowyer's attitude to Cup matches was the epitome of crass. Fielding weakened teams that get knocked out wasn't just his preserve but he made no attempt to disguise his lack of interest. It was an insult to paying supporters to turn up and see a reserve team being humbled but to hear him say "well we were never going to win it anyway" was unacceptable and why I stopped going to them.

So, three cheers for Johnnie Jackson who has matched his words with deeds. He said he wants to win every game we play (how could his predecessors in recent years not want the same?) and he has picked strong sides to do that. 

Suddenly we have two Cup runs on the go. We are likely to exit both shortly but we have had a go and who knows? Monday's draw deserves to be kind to Jackson. It's a long time since we played a big side at the Valley in the F A Cup and it would be a fair reward for his endeavour. The revenue would also be very welcome and I am sure Thomas Sandgaard would be equally delighted if we could progress and keep adding to the kitty. 

All that remains, of course, is for Sandgaard to pull his finger out and do the right thing by appointing Jackson and his team on a permanent basis. Any notion that behind the scenes any of the management team would prefer someone other than Jackson must have died with us avoiding the banana skin last night. A failure to confirm Jacko would be nothing short of an epic mistake and likely to be a very costly one at that.

We haven't been great in the last few games but we have been short of a full strength side and even last night young Deji Elerewe had to stand up strong in defence and play his part, which he did. Jackson's battlers have put in the graft and they all deserve their reward. A Cup bonus would also support our acquisition of another centre-forward in January to bolster our push for the play-offs and strengthen the squad for next season which has to be done sooner or later.