The benefit of a small crowd meant that I got served at lightning speed in the Rose of Denmark. albeit that dodging tumbleweed is a sport that I am not used to, even in these third division days. If the pub was low key, then The Valley was no more lively, as two surprisingly strong teams took to the turf, Charlton with five men on show from Monday night's heroics, and Carlisle with nine of the men who had started against us in the league game, all in action in this second round FA Cup tie.
I also had the joy of a "bloke behind me", which is something I am normally spared, but got one today in the unfamiliar surroundings of B block in the lower west. I had forgotten how annoying they can be, and is it always the case that the person with the loudest voice, is usually the one that knows the least?
The fact that there was little of note in a quiet first half, didn't help the atmosphere, with only just over seven thousand in attendance. A very quiet affair indeed. The one thing that was clear, was that Powell was not going to risk a replay, the seven man bench stuffed with attacking endeavour, Wright-Phillips, Kermorgant, and Euell all made it on, Smith and Bover didn't. The man of the match for me though was there for the full ninety. Step forward Pritchard; industrious, and with attacking threat, he richly deserves the second year option on his contract being exercised on the basis of what I have seen of him this season. Yesterday will have done his longer term chances of future employ at Charlton no harm at all.
I was also impressed with Evina, covering left midfield in the absence of our captain Jackson, and an inelligible Ephraim. He showed some great touches, and I suspect that with more game time, we would see a whole lot more. After a quiet first half, the team came to life in the second, with Morrison getting a true centre back style goal from two yards out. After being thwarted once by the visiting keeper, the rebound was dispatched into the goal with minimum fuss. Euell then rolled back the years with a scrambling goal late on to seal it, and so we move on to the third round.
A nice tie against a strong Premiership or Championship side would be good, and if we can bow out at that stage to focus on the league, then yes please. For some reason though, I have it in my head that we will be drawn against Doncaster Rovers (16) away. We are the last ball number at 64, and below are some numbers to watch out for when the draw is made this afternoon.
1 Arsenal
12 Chelsea
23 Liverpool
24 Manchester City
25 Manchester United
28 Newcastle United
39 Tottenham Hotspur
45 Salisbury City or Grimsby Town
49 Chelmsford City or Macclesfield Town
51 Crawley Town
53 Fleetwood Town or Yeovil Town
54 Wrexham
59 Tamworth
61 Sutton United or Notts County
63 AFC Totton or Bristol Rovers
Showing posts with label Carlisle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carlisle. Show all posts
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Tuesday, 6 April 2010
Carlisle & Other Things
It is surprising how people view the same event in completely different ways. Monday's fare was toe curlingly dull in the extreme. Following on from two games where the opposition managers both felt with some justification, that their teams should have won, Charlton should have buried Carlisle; damn right we should have. Were we ever going to?, of course not. This is Charlton after all. At this stage of the season, nobody does pretty any more, and if a seven point haul from an available nine on offer is the result, then I for one am not going to complain about it. Oh, and Bailey got an enforced rest over most of those three games, something that was quite frankly not before time. Sodje Senior was immense yesterday, and another good performance from Mooney, this time as provider deserves praise after the opprobrium he has received of late.
As for other things, the club are congratulating themselves on convincing 60% of the season ticket holding base to renew early. I suspect it will be a little higher come 5pm this afternoon, but now the club has a different issue to tackle, namely what of the near 40% who have not renewed at this time? As has been pointed out elsewhere, the club has now put themselves in a bit of a corner, as nothing more can happen with the absentees until the club's fate for next season has been decided. Simplistically, the missing 4,000 will fall into two broad categories; those that have no intention of renewing, and those that have chosen not to at this time for a myriad of reasons, ranging from budgetary to general dissatisfaction. I suspect, and hope that the latter category is carrying the majority, but the clubs actions now will determine whether the former category gets bigger.
Achievement on the pitch will have an impact, there is little doubt about that, and the Board obviously has no control over that, but there is a secondary elephant trap that the club does have the power to do something about, namely seat allocation. I would strongly urge the club to hold off allocating seats to those who renewed early, where the seat in question is being held by a current season ticket holder, who has not yet renewed. It seems unreasonable that somebody who has budgeted for their season ticket to be paid for in the conventional season ticket buying window, should lose their seat because they are not able to change when they can afford to pay for it. Just a thought.
As for other things, the club are congratulating themselves on convincing 60% of the season ticket holding base to renew early. I suspect it will be a little higher come 5pm this afternoon, but now the club has a different issue to tackle, namely what of the near 40% who have not renewed at this time? As has been pointed out elsewhere, the club has now put themselves in a bit of a corner, as nothing more can happen with the absentees until the club's fate for next season has been decided. Simplistically, the missing 4,000 will fall into two broad categories; those that have no intention of renewing, and those that have chosen not to at this time for a myriad of reasons, ranging from budgetary to general dissatisfaction. I suspect, and hope that the latter category is carrying the majority, but the clubs actions now will determine whether the former category gets bigger.
Achievement on the pitch will have an impact, there is little doubt about that, and the Board obviously has no control over that, but there is a secondary elephant trap that the club does have the power to do something about, namely seat allocation. I would strongly urge the club to hold off allocating seats to those who renewed early, where the seat in question is being held by a current season ticket holder, who has not yet renewed. It seems unreasonable that somebody who has budgeted for their season ticket to be paid for in the conventional season ticket buying window, should lose their seat because they are not able to change when they can afford to pay for it. Just a thought.
Saturday, 31 October 2009
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.
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.
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