Charlton Athletic 1 v Derby County 0

Well, well, well. Unbeaten with four points and fifth in the table after two tricky matches. The relief, if not fully fledged optimism, is palpable. I couldn’t see it coming, personally, and had Derby on my coupon yesterday - I know, I know, but business is business. I was more than happy to tear my bet up. Like you, I hope we can really build on this and put a good start together. 

However, my basic concerns remain and were glaringly obvious for 40 minutes yesterday. Derby swamped us from the off, ironically with a high pressing game which pretty much pinned us in our half until Kirk managed to find Stockley’s head just before the break. We were all over the shop. McGrandles for Dobson wasn’t working, although I will credit Garner for having the courage to drop Dobson after he went missing at Accrington. O’Connell is looking like the step up to League One may be bigger than he or we anticipated. He looks shaky and lacking confidence to play forward when coming out of defence with the ball - time for Lavelle to renew with Inniss. Sessegnon was given a hard time by Mendez-Laing and much was left to Clare, Inniss in the air and Joe Wollacott. Wollacott won over any remainder doubters yesterday with three good saves to keep Derby out before half-time. He has a great long boot but I would love to see him stop leaving it to the last millisecond - calamity awaits.

Nil-nil at the break then and fearful of the second-half but hope springs eternal and we came out with more fight and orders to get it forward. Dobson had replaced McGrandles after a head-knock and his presence brought more cover for the defence. Kirk and Blackett-Taylor saw more of the ball as a result and suddenly Derby’s momentum was halted. It became a more even affair and after 62 minutes we rubbed salt in Derby’s wounds with a good move down the left. Kirk slipped Morgan in and and after a charge, his shot was parried across the face of the Covered End goal to the gleeful Blackett-Taylor who just had to put it in the unguarded net.

One-nil and Derby still didn’t manage to raise their game. The heat had gone out of their engine and despite forcing a number of corners, they couldn’t get a decisive first touch. Our defence was now fighting with more confidence and after surviving a howling miss by a Derby player left at the back post with the goal at his mercy, we managed to see it out. 

I was impressed with Garner’s post-match commentary. He explains it as it is and tends to focus on the positives but acknowledges what needs looking at. He’s going to have to deal with disappointment sooner or later but deserves to celebrate this success. He has made the right calls so far in terms of team changes when players haven’t performed. Many were questioning Dobson being dropped and perhaps it was harsh after one poor game but we have plenty of competition in midfield and George played well again when he came on. We need to find out how to get the best from Fraser. He has been neat and tidy but we have yet to see the attacking threat he so often showed playing against us. 

Hillsbrough will be a tough ask next Saturday but at least the side have something to build on and if we can avoid defeat there, we have two winnable home games to follow against Plymouth and Cambridge. Points from those would cement a good start from the opening five games and might help us with securing better loan deals before the window closes. 

As things stand though, we are still well short of what’s needed to sustain a promotion challenge, especially upfront. Young Leaburn showed some ambition on the counter again in his substitute appearance but we have to be realistic and accept that an 18-year old is unlikely to score 20 goals this season. We also need more bodies to cope with current shortages upfront and on the left-side in particular. A couple of injuries to key players would leave us struggling at the moment. 

I wasn’t at the game (on holiday) but the gate looked well short of the 17,046 given. The Covered End was reasonably well populated, highlighting the even more expensive seating elsewhere but the West and East were predictably empty in large areas. Are we back to counting complimentary tickets again I wonder, even if they aren’t actually given out or used?