Carlisle 3 Charlton 1

Am I the only one a little bemused that Steve Bruce even had image rights, never mind that apparently Birmingham City held them? No doubt Parkinson will have mulled over such detail before putting pen to paper on his one year extension on Friday. The timing of this new deal, and Reading's apparent interest will not be coincidental, so at least some cash will come our way if the Berkshire club do indeed follow up with an offer to him. I somehow doubt they will though, given todays performance. Indeed, how many times do we need Millwall to do the business on our behalf, this time against Colchester, when we are seemingly incapable of doing it for ourselves?

Ikeme, and Omozusi, now join Mooney and Holden in the loanee ranks. Although Parkinson dislikes the use of loan players, he really has no choice this year. I have been struck by the fact that most clubs, even in the third division, have bigger squads than Charlton, so it looks as if we will find out which of the two "P's" is the better judge of a loaner, Unlike the latter two, both Ikeme, and Omozusi were named in the starting lineup this afternoon, in the third game on the spin, where Parkinson has opted to start with a 4-4-2.

I wonder what Randolph has done to be overlooked for Ikeme?, and I can only put it down to the fact that we have the FA Cup to deal with, so an injury to Randolph in a league game will leave us with only the very young Ja Ja to stand between the sticks. I care about the FA Cup this season, only marginally more than the paint pot trophy. A bit of revenue, but that's about it as far as I am concerned.

In a first half full of grey and dull, the last five minutes came as a bit of a surprise. We really do have a problem with our front line. What is it about Charlton and strikers? Not content with drawing blanks at the right end, Burton fashions a chance at the other by giving away a penalty. Although Ikeme saved the spot kick, the ageing Harte followed up to put the Cumbrians 1-0 up. Not finished yet, Burton then won a penalty of his own, courtesy of a foul on him by Kavanagh. Duly despatched, this time without the need of a rebound, and the teams went in for their cup of tea at 1-1. Parkinson was already enjoying his, having been sent to the stands after the award of the Carlisle penalty.

In the same way that Burton made amends for giving away a penalty, by creating one as well, Kavanagh not to be outdone, thumped in a 25 yarder to restore Carlisle's lead in the 62nd minute, oh and did exactly the same thing 20 minutes later, from a similar distance. Before that, on 70 minutes Parkinson threw the dice for the first and last time with a triple substitution, Mooney, Shelvey, and Basey, coming on for Semedo, McLeod, and Omozusi. It made no impact whatsoever. Much of this defeat has to be down to the thinness of the squad, but a lot of it has to sit on the shoulders of the man with a new extension on his contract. The team were lacklustre today, and Carlisle made them pay the price for it.

Gillingham 1 Charlton 1

And so, just to prove that Plan B really does exist, Parkinson had Charlton set out in a 4-4-2 formation for the second week running. As I wrote previously, that is ok, if you have the quality of personnel to achieve a positive result from it, but yesterday confirmed for me that Charlton does not have the personnel to play that particular formation consistently well. Both sides cancelled each other out, and the draw was a fair result.

We did, however, fail to take the chance to go top, and are now very much in the sights of both Franchise FC, and more especially my second team, Colchester. It seems an eternity ago, that I was cheering on Colchester on a Friday night, as they slid inexorably towards the Conference, but here they are, thirty years later, breathing down our neck. Times change, and for Charlton, so does the formation occasionally. It may be time to bring Shelvey back in, rest Burton, and give Mooney a try from the off, either with, or without McLeod.

Charlton 2 Huddersfield 1

Well, we wanted a Plan B, and we got it. A week late admittedly, but very pleasing to see it nevertheless. Parkinson got this one just about spot on, so well done to him, and the players involved. I am not entirely convinced that we have the quality of personnel up front, to go 4-4-2 on a consistent basis, but this attempt was overdue, and reaped a deserved, if at times, fortunate reward. The most telling moment for me, was the substitution of Semedo for Spring. You could just see the trust and belief flow back into the team, knowing that our favourite Portugeezer was protecting the back four. Youga continued his immense form of late, and was my man of the match, by quite some distance.

So, what else? I am happy to put on record here and now, that I have no problem with a Sullivan led bid for the club. I had business dealings with the Golds', David, and his brother Ralph, many years ago, and always found them very straightforward to do business with, albeit it that most of the business was done through David's two daughters, Jacqui and Vanessa. If David Gold is involved, then I don't believe that Charlton would have better owners to follow in the mighty footsteps of Richard Murray. Just don't bring Karren Brady with you please.

P.S. - I should add at this time, I have always held a torch for Vanessa :-)

Charlton 0 Oldham 0

It never ceases to amaze me, just how different peoples opinion of the same game can be. Whilst one particular radio commentator felt it necessary to describe Saturday's game as probably the most boring and dull it had ever been his misfortune to witness, I just felt frustrated by the time wasting of Oldham, the profligacy in front of goal by McLeod, and the lack of guile shown by both the players and Parkinson, which has left us with two points dropped, rather than one gained.

The unfortunate pattern against top half teams that we now seem to be establishing, is a salutory reminder that we are good, but we are not special, and that perhaps my pre season prediction of mid table anonymity, may not be that wide of the mark after all. Even to a casual observer such as I, it was blindingly obvious that Oldham would come looking for a 0-0 scoreline, so why did we start with a 4-5-1 formation? When, somewhat belatedly, Parkinson did switch to a 4-4-2, the chances came thick and fast. The logic about keeping faith with the players that have started the season so well, is beginning to look a little thin now, as those same players have now managed a meagre 7 out of a possible 18 points in the last six games.

I shall watch with interest, to see what Parkinson does for the game against Huddersfield, as that will be a very similar game to the Oldham one. Unfortunately, all my concerns about his lack of strategic nous, and his ability to motivate a team when results are not as rosy as before, seem to be well founded, on the basis of the Oldham game. I hope to be convinced otherwise.

Leeds 0 Charlton 0

CAFC Player is rubbish! I attempted to take advantage of the fourteen day free trial, and quite frankly won't be bothering again. I have a feeling we may well be hearing the old line that demand was so great, the service couldn't cope. Not a good enough reason really is it? So, instead, I tuned in to Radio London, and listened to what sounded like a game we could have won. The fact that we didn't, shouldn't detract from a great recovery after the horror show of Colchester earlier in the week, so hats off to Parkinson and the boys for a solid performance.

When I heard that Kandol was on the bench, I thought, typical, he is going to come on at some stage, and score against us. He didn't, and with the result at Bristol Rovers going our way, we now have a two point cushion, although Colchester also now have us in their sights, a point further back, but with a superior goal difference. With Leeds away at Bristol Rovers next week, there is every possibility that we could be back at the top after next weeks match,

With only six points taken out of the last fifteen, the team are not performing well enough to my mind, to be considered as automatic promotion candidates, but a play off place does look a real possibility, and I would have taken that as a very good season for us, before it began. After yesterday's result, I wonder if we are starting to see a pattern emerging, in that although we do not beat the clubs around us, we tend not to lose either, Colchester excepted.