Charlton Athletic 0 v Norwich City 1

Norwich City came into this match on the back of five successive defeats. They sit bottom of the Premier League and another relegation threatens. On Wednesday they go to West Ham for another Premier League fixture so their task yesterday was to get in and out of the Valley with minimal damage. Neither Billy Gilmour or Teemu Pukki started as the Canaries set-out to get a result with minimal effort.

It really was a huge open goal of a game in which I believe Norwich were there for the taking. A very rare opportunity these days to progress beyond the 3rd Round of the F A Cup and to take a Premier League scalp. Cambridge United had shown us the way on Saturday in a much tougher fixture.

Sadly, Johnnie Jackson was ham-strung from the off. Once again Jayden Stockley was missing due to his hip injury but Conor Washington also failed to appear due to injury. Not only are we desperately short of goal-scorers upfront but these two also regularly miss matches. The sight of Leko and Burstowe up top told you all you needed to know about how this game would play out. Leko is an honest lower league journeyman and more of a winger than a striker. Mason Burstowe was making one of only a handful of starts as an fledgling 18 year old. I have no complaints against either as they toiled away but also no complaints that we didn't score again. We did create chances and Elliott Lee or Alex Gilbey might have done better with efforts from decent positions but it always looked like we were going to fall short.

Half-time was the signal for Dean Smith to send Pukki on and after that it was really only a matter of could Norwich get a goal. When it did arrive late on, it was Pukki who carried the ball into our defence and set-up Rashica to score. In typical Charlton fashion we saved our best chance for the last attack of the game when Purrington headed onto their bar in a late goalmouth scramble.

Our play-off ambitions effectively ended last week against Wycombe Wanderers and we are now out of the F A Cup. It will allow us to concentrate on the EFL Trophy which is realistically the only positive interest left this season and without a forward threat, that too might be short-lived.

I have argued on here that we have needed more goal-scoring power all season and even recently was hoping that the right front man might give us a strong finish to the season and leave us in a reasonable position for next year. However, looking around the squad yesterday was a bit disheartening and I wonder if what we really need is another large clearout? That was typified by the substitutions we made. Fresh legs may have been needed, certainly in the case of Ryan Inniss, but the sight of Gunter, Davison and Blackett-Taylor trooping on after 70 minutes was depressing. Gunter did nothing, Davison drew a booking for Hanley and Blackett-Taylor hoisted a cross over the Norwich crossbar. Bringing them all on at the same time smacked of Jackson making a point to Sandgaard but perhaps it was all he could do? I am not a fan of rewarding failure and none of them have done anything positive for ages. And then we brought Kirk on. His only part was a howling mis-control in their box which blew a promising attack. The lad is so shot that he now visibly throws his hands in the hand and screams every time he loses possession - it's really not doing him or us any favours.

So, for me, the season is over, or it should be. We are now down in 14th and worryingly, only six points from the drop-zone. Compared to the 14 points from 6th place, the only remaining excitement this season could be another flirtation with relegation. Perhaps we should bring in a couple of strikers now just to make sure things don't go from bad to worse? Season Two of Sandgaard's Five Year Plan for the Premier League is in tatters. It started badly with a flawed recruitment plan and perseverance with a manager who had lost the plot. We simply have to get this right next season and hoist ourselves to the right end of the table or we will do more permanent damage to the standing of the club. If Sandgaard has the money to do this, he really needs to use it. Trying to throw a double-six again won't do.