Cheltenham Town 1 v Charlton Athletic 1

Us Charlton fans often believe that the Gods rarely smile on us. Unfair refereeing decisions and last minute goals against are what happens to us and we don't get a rub of the green. Common sense tells you that isn't really how it works and all fans feel similarly when they are hard done by. Yesterday's match proved that point as we stole a point that should have been beyond us well before the 96th minute.

That it was Chuks Aneke who got his breath on Inniss' near post flick on from a final corner was almost inevitable, in spite of his mixed performance. He wasn't alone, as we contrived to play horribly once again in front of 1550 travelling fans. 

Johnnie Jackson will be doing some soul searching at the moment. The change in our play across this group is puzzling and bitterly disappointing but it is something he needs to draw some conclusions from and them put a plan in place to address. Staying up is the prime objective but the close season is rapidly approaching and he will need to act decisively to remove this fundamental weakness from the squad.

The first-half was pitiful to watch as hard-working Cheltenham did the basics well and exposed us all over the pitch. Innis, Clare and Famewo had a collective stinker at the back. Inniss and Clare inexplicably passed to their opponents in space across the backline on a couple of occasions each and we were very lucky not to concede before we did. The distance between them was criminal and hard to understand. Famewo was once again playing far left and a bit further up field than his partners. Inniss was left centre-half and Clare had the whole right side to himself. It was a mess and a goal was inevitable.

MacGillivray was given an extra day off to be with his wife and new-born and I think we would all have given a collective 'ah' at the news that Henderson would be starting again. When Cheltenham scored courtesy of a carbon copy of Tuesday's first goal at Crewe it was more of an 'aarrgggghhhh!'

I thought Gilbey deserved to be dropped after his patchy showing on Tuesday but not sure I would have brought Morgan back in to do it. To be fair to him, he saw a lot of the ball but we were all over the place in midfield and there appeared to be no game-plan once again and precious little from wide positions. Matthews was back on the right wing which meant playing right-footed Jaiyesimi (and then Blackett-Taylor) on the left. Cheltenham shut them out and Aneke and Burstow were stranded.

Jaiyesimi did get one decent cross in during the first-half and Aneke should have got to it unmarked at the back post. He seemed to see it coming for several seconds and was close enough to reach it and to jump but he did neither. He also didn't win much elsewhere either and strangely he didn't seem to go for any headers. He did manage to prevent Cheltenham from going two-up before half-time when he was on our goal-line and somehow managed to clear a goal-bound header over the bar from a yard out and facing his own net. Cheltenham also managed a great goal-line clearance from our best chance of the half when Inniss flicked on a low near post header that beat Evans but was hooked off the line at the back post.

After the break and kicking towards an end packed with increasingly vocal and angry Charlton fans, there was certainly more urgency about our play but still no game-plan, no guile and still loads of frustrating errors. Cheltenham faded a little but they still created several better scoring chances than us and should really have set-up a two goal cushion. 

Aneke hooked a high ball over his head and it skimmed the bar from close range. Elliott managed a decent volley from distance but Evans clung onto it in the home goal. There had been a fair bit of stoppage time, especially in the first-half and the added six minutes gave us some final hope even if we were hardly battering their door down. A late, late corner saw it swing in to the near post where Ryan Inniss dived towards it and got a flick on across the near post where several bodies converged and there was Chuks Aneke for that hot breath touch which deflected the ball ever so slightly but just enough to creep in at the far post. 

It was the signal for ridiculously extravagant celebrations behind the goal and the side return, from where a dozen or so Charlton supporters were easily able to run on and make an arse of themselves as well as the club. It looked to all the world like we had managed a well-deserved winner, not a jammy equaliser. Not sure what the home crowd thought of it but I wouldn't have been impressed. The players also celebrated like they had managed to breach the Edersee dam after 90 minutes of constant bombardment without any luck. It was the sort of thing that makes me almost regret the point because you get the impression the players will learn nothing once again from their shambolic performance and that we will need to suffer further shocking performances and losses before they finally snap out of it and secure the points we need this season.

In terms of that soul-searching, Jackson needs to be having discrete conversations with non-performers whose contracts are up in the Summer and telling them it's now or never. Literally. Another poor performance and they can start looking for another club willing to carry them. That would make the Summer clear-out much easier and enable him to make clear very early on what replacements are required. Whatever happens, we need to find a few Winners who can set the standard for next season, provide on field leadership and ensure our performances next year are far more consistent than we have had to suffer this year.