Who Are You?

Two poor teams, put on a very entertaining show yesterday afternoon. I am sure sterner opposition could have seen off either of them, but it felt like a small step to recovery, the first signs that we do have the wherewithal to extricate ourselves from the mess we have got ourselves into. Had it not been for a man of the match performance by Saints keeper Kelvin Davis, Charlton could easily have been three up at the break.

Whilst near half of the starters yesterday were not even Charlton players, I think that this sad indictment of where we are as a club, has a credible contra view, which is that at least three of the loan rangers have not been tainted with the misery that has been served up to us, season to date. Bailey showed yesterday that confidence and form go hand in hand, as his contribution to the game was not good. I don't know if Racon was carrying an injury, but I would be tempted to team him up with Semedo, and let Bailey try and regain his form out of the limelight.

I didn't think that I would ever be glad to hail Fortune as a step in the right direction, but I was happy to see him restored to the side, as our mid table obscurity form at the start of the season, owed much to Fortune and Hudson being at the centre of the back line. McEveley was my pick of the new boys, looking more solid than Youga or Basey defensively, and carrying a real threat going forward. Gillespie also put in a good shift as well.

So, one game out of the essential three down, and a point in the bag. As I have said previously, we need a minimum of six points from Southampton, Blackpool, and Coventry, so on that basis, we need to win the next two games, a feat we have not managed since Noah was a lad. We are still three points behind the fourth from bottom team Norwich, and we have to claw that back pronto, if our bid to escape relegation is to have any credibility at all.