An end-of-season game this with plenty of chances as well as defensive errors contributing to a point apiece, which sees the Addicks finish in tenth. It looked a decent afternoon in Cheltenham as 800-plus Charlton fans packed the small stand behind one of the goals to say farewell to one of the most disappointing seasons we have had.
We have now played Cheltenham Town six times altogether and are still awaiting our first victory. We had enough chances in the first-half to have secured at least a two nil lead but wasteful finishing (Campbell, Rak-Sayi and Fraser) meant we lead only by Scott Fraser's neatly taken goal just after the half-hour mark. Cheltenham came back at us in the second period and equalised through Aidan Keena after two mistakes by Maynard-Brewer. First he hooked a kick out to Alfie May who was level with the edge of our box and his shot was then parried by Maynard-Brewer into Aidan Keena's path and he couldn't miss.
The rash of Charlton subs began after 74 minutes when Nathan Asiimwe made his debut and Jack Payne also got on. Payne put us 2-1 up within ten minutes. Southwood rushed a ball up to his central defender. Payne saw it coming and nipped in to take the ball and drive it back beyond the hapless keeper. That was the signal for Rylah, Mitchell and Roddy to join in. Unfortunately, they hadn't found their feet when Alfie May took a cross, stepped inside Roddy and slotted the equaliser with only two minutes of normal time added.
The work should now begin for Dean Holden but with what budget? We have been told repeatedly that we know the changes we need to make and that they have been identifying players for months now. Peter 'I wanna tell you a" Storrie tried to tell us, without laughing, that the budget for next season has been increased and that somehow all prospective buyers of the club have agreed to it! The most we can hope for is that Sandgaard has approved a larger budget knowing he won't be here to fund it. If, by some misfortune, he is still here come June, I suspect talk of an increased budget will quickly disappear. We have been late squad-building every year since Bowyer left and I suspect we will repeat that this year.
We will need to find 15 more goals from somewhere to replace top scorer Jesurun Rak-Sakyi's haul and if Leaburn leaves you can add another 12. That will likely take transfer fees, so all the talk about improved budgets and ambitious would-be buyers will be tested. The midfield is crying out for leadership and creativity. Those players won't be easy to bring in if we are left fiddling with wages once again. I wish I could say the defence is alright but we have shipped more goals (66) than any other side in the top half of the table. We have some tidy defenders on their day but far too many of them have off days which has cost us at least the 15 points we finished short of sixth.
Steve Brown made a good point after the match today when he said that none of the January signings made their mark. This was after much talking-up at the time of wisdom being shown by the Methven consortium management team whom we were lead to believe were highly experienced and who would somehow lead us quickly towards a winning side and a nucleus for next season. Macauley Bonne? Matt Penney? Todd Kane? Someone Kilkenny? At least they were all signed on short deals. As things stand, the same super-team (Methven, Rodwell, Scott etc) are back knocking on the door trying to get control of the club.
Whatever happens between now and 30th July, for once fans may be more interested in who leaves the club than who joins. Retaining too many of those currently deemed 'not good enough' and we will only dilute those coming in. This will be Dean Holden's biggest managerial test thus far.
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