Charlton Athletic 2 v Watford 2

The proverbial game of two halves yesterday. In the first 45 minutes Charlton picked up pretty much where we left off against Palace. Solid at the back, busy in midfield and looking dangerous up front. In the second half we were caught cold by two goals in a minute and were unable to fight-back. Paul Taylor, the referree, was dire and favoured Watford in many of his decisions. Call me petty, but coming from Hertfordshire hardly inspires a view of neutrality.

Anyway, to the game. I was disappointed to see us set-up with the same eleven that scraped a draw in Sheffield on Tuesday. I am assuming Bougherra is still injured as I believe he deserves a place ahead of Jon Fortune if fit. Fortune had a reasonable game yesterday but is playing at his peak and Bougherra will develop into a more consistent performer. I thought Ambrose and/or Sam deserved to be dropped following a number of games where they have not done enough, especially in the second half. With Cook and Thomas as the options, I would had Ambrose on the bench.

Nonetheless we set about the task with some determination and the opening goal was a well-worked gem. Halford played up to Gray who knocked on for Varney to collect in space before pulling the ball back through the turning Watford defence for Darren Ambrose to ram home from 8 yards. It all looked so easy and we continued to make the running before going two-up after 36 minutes. This time Halford burst down the right and fired in a low and hard cross which was curling back towards the on-rushing Varney and Gray. A desperate lunge from Danny Shittu was all it needed to divert the ball passed Lee and it looked all over. Charlton strolled off in the winter sunshine at the break and everyone in red looked happy.

Watford obviously took a rollocking at half time because they were out and ready to kick off fully five minutes before Pardew's men ambled back. The Watford tempo had quickened and they were visibly concentrating better than in the first period. After ten minutes they got the bit of good fortune they needed. The accomplished Tommy Smith picked up a Charlton clearance and turned back against the tide of on-rushing players. He cleverly played the ball through a gap behind the Charlton defence and O-Toole was clear to beat Weaver unopposed. From my vantage point in the East Stand I couldn't be sure, but O'Toole and another yellow shirted player looked offside. It was pointless looking to the referree as he hadn't seen anything all game. He missed a blatant corner in the first half when Lee palmed an effort wide and was reluctant to penalise several tackles which had merited bookings. As Charlton re-started I commented to a mate that we had to keep possession for three minutes to settle the game and get going again. Watford went straight downfield and won a corner. The ball in was met by Danny Shittu head and shoulders above the nearest challenge and he atoned for his earlier own goal. No further chorus of "there's only one Danny Shittu" from the North Stand.

The game was still there to be won. Level-pegging having scored twice with home advantage and fully half-an-hour to play. What was disappointing was we failed to fightback. We battled well enough but when we needed an inspirational run from someone, there was no-one to do it. I can't help thinking Andy Reid might have made a diference in the second half. Holland and Zheng Zhi were too busy scampering around the midfield to breakout. Lloyd Sam had enjoyed a decent first half but was again mis-firing and Darren Ambrose had dropped out altogether. Varney and Gray were still fighting up front but were short of support. It was time for a substitution but we waited another 13 minutes before Lee Cook eventually came on for Ambrose.

Cook got a noisy reception - from the Watford fans who clearly haven't forgotten his acrimonious transfer when he left them to join his beloved QPR in 2004. He was given the privilege of two men marking him for the rest of the game but still managed an impressive showing. He was fouled reepeatedly but delivered half-a-dozen decent crosses which were all well- defended.

Thomas came on for Sam and Iwelumo for Gray but we still couldn't find the urgency we needed and we actually spent the last ten minutes playing in our own half. If anything, Watford might have snatched the winner and it look a great last-ditch block from Jon Fortune to earn the point.
Paddy McCarthy was excellent today and good enough in his position to be able to pay attention to supporting Jon Fortune and Greg Halford. Apart from Cook's lively home debut there wasn't a great deal from the rest to comment on.

For me, it's time to stop dreaming about automatic promotion and concentrate on getting the points we need to finish with a play-off place. Looking at the table this morning, there is a far bigger risk of losing our play-off place than winning automatic promotion. A finish outside the top six will be unacceptable with the squad we have and the opportunities we have already missed.

Bah humbug!

Roll on the weekend...

I'm missing the Leicester game tomorrow and am annoyed with myself. Back in close season, when Charlton-interest was at a low, I accepted an invite to Murrayfield on Sunday for the Scotland v New Zealand Rugby World Cup match. The fixtures weren't out then and, hey, we'll probably be away to Preston or somewhere else I have zero interest in ever revisiting.....

I will have to make do with listening in and using my imagination. I expect us to get something from this game and much will depend on how quickly the Leicester players are taking to Gary Megson. Therefore, I'm backing a comfortable victory, especially if we can reach the heights of much of the Norwich performance. Interesting to read the Foxes view of the game; all seem unaware that McCarthy has virtually no chance of even making the bench and they also seem to be relishing their chances against him! Three points will keep us in touch with Watford and we have a great opportunity to further consolidate because Watford have a tricky game at QPR, Bristol City entertain 6th-placed Burnley and Coventry and West Brom are away at Ipswich and Scunthorpe respectively. If we can win again, it will give us a little safeguard against the away trips to Coventry and Hull.

Meanwhile on Sunday, assuming Scotland pick a full-strength team (rumours of tactical resting ahead of the Italy decider), I have a hunch Scotland could cause an upset and lose by less than 20 points.

Charlton Athletic 4 v Stockport County 3

As if Saturday's dramatic 3-2 win the Valley wasn't enough, Charlton went one better this evening by losing a two-nil lead and then going on to win the match in the last couple of minutes.

Increasingly, early round League Cup games take on the form of handicap matches with the "bigger" club usually deciding to rest players and field a team that they hope should be good enough to get the result, usually with some big gun reinforcements on the bench. That was precisely what happened tonight.

Randolph started in goal, with a back-four of Semedo, Fortune, McCarthy and Powell. You could add Faye to that but I think he was supposed to playing in midfield with French debutant, Thierry Racon, Zheng Zhi and Lloyd Sam with Todorow and McLeod up top.

The side acquitted themselves well in the first half and were unfortunate not have scored earlier than Todorov's opener from 20 yards which was a quality strike and a reminder of some of the class difference on show. McLeod was very busy and the front pairing were supported well from Zheng Zhi, Racon and Sam who was thriving on strong and quick raiding support from Semedo, who looked even more comfortable at right-back than he did at left-back on Saturday. Indeed it was Mcleod who was brought down after turning and wriggling free in the box that lead to a twice taken penalty for the second goal just before half-time; Zheng converting after the initial effort was missed by McLeod.

The second half started much as the first had, a reasonable League Cup crowd (8,000-ish) were looking for the third to kill the game. Unfortunately, this was the signal for Stockport to dominate for a 15 minute spell during which they scored three times and forced a superb reflex save from Randolph in the process. The back four, and probably the centre-back pairing, in particular, went to sleep during this period. They were not helped by a careless back-pass from Faye which lead to the equaliser or by McCarthy failing to cut out a secondary ball from a corner for the lead. I don't think this did much for fledgling Randolph's confidence either. Stockport's noisy 400 following could barely contain themselves on taking the lead and the Valley faithful took a deep breath and braced themselves for the finale.

Charlton stepped up a gear at this point and created a string of chances, the best of which was a 50-yard, three man inter-passing and running move involving Sam, Zheng and Todorov. Todorov's deft flick over Adamson just missing the post. Todorov also clipped the bar with a delightfully curled shot from out left. Lloyd Sam was having the best ten minutes of his career in his best Charlton performance to date. He was up-ended after another powerful run and from the resulting free-kick exacted his revenge. He struck a perfect low and hard shot which looked to have moved slightly around the wall before streaking in at the keeper's left hand post. The Valley was buzzing and Charlton pressing for the winner to avoid 30 minutes of extra time.

Iwelumo was on for McLeod and Ambrose came on for Racon. Iwelumo was threatening and had one header ruled offisde for pushing before Ambrose fired narrowly wide after a burst through the box. With two minutes remaining Paddy McCarthy finally jumped to head a ball and his delight was obvious as his header crashed home our last corner of the game.

Alan Pardew's post-match comment will be interesting. Plenty more positives but the centre-back pairing is not right yet. I sincerely hope someone comes in for Amdy Faye. He's had plenty of opportunity to prove his worth and tonight was the straw that broke the camel's back for me; I can forgive a player without the ability but not one who repeatedly doesn't try his best. Unless Pards has a good explanation, he was playing nowhere this evening in between defence and midfield. He was by-passed with ease and failed to make any telling contribution other than handing Stockport the equaliser. Ten men wouldn't have fared any worse.

For my money, Lloyd Sam was man of the Match. Another couple of performances like this and he will begin to emerge as the talent we hope he is.

Next stop Norwood Junction!