Charlton 2 Brentford 0

Both sides played as though jaded after a hectic Christmas schedule, which was inevitable, and the quality or lack of it on show was no real surprise. What was a surprise was hearing the drummers normally to be found in the Upper North transposed due to a power failure to the Upper West. It was all a little odd, as one whole block of the Upper North appeared to have been almost cleared, but people were still ensconced in it's other sections? A fifteen minute delay to the kick off ensued as itinerant North Standers queued to get into the unfamiliar surroundings of the Upper West.

One benefit of this delay was that even as we were kicking off, news was coming through that Carlisle were already two one up against Sheffield United. If it was all goal action in Cumbria, the opening exchanges at The Valley suggested something far more attritional was about to be served up, and this duly transpired. Powell had promised changes would be made during the holiday period, but hadn't really delivered it, other than in enforced circumstances. Today, however, we got Cort instead of Taylor, and a starting berth for Pritchard instead of Russell whose loan finishes tomorrow anyway. New boy Clarke also made the bench in place of an unhappy Hayes, judging by the tweet he put out before kick off.

The first goal was a header by Morrison from a Green cross when one on one with the Bees goalkeeper. I like the idea of using Morrison as a centre forward on occasions, and it is a tactic that Powell seems to be using with increasing regularity. It usually follows a Charlton corner, and instead of haring back when the move breaks down, it is usually Kermorgant that does the running back leaving Morrison upfront, and causing a fair deal of confusion in the opposition ranks in the process. It worked a treat midway through the first half when he received the ball completely unmarked, and headed over the advancing keeper.

Normlly at one up, I feel nervous that Charlton will sit back and invite a shed load of pressure, and a goal and a draw will result. I didn't feel that today, as Brentford offered little more than token attempts on goal. What attempts there were still caused some erratic behaviour from Hamer who appears to be a little out of sorts, punching when he should catch, advancing when he should be holding ground. There is a school of thought that thinks a new keeper should be recruited in the transfer window just opened, but I suspect it is a temporary (hopefully) loss of form, in much the same way that I think Wright-Phillips is also suffering.

The second goal came from a long kick forward that Green got on the end of whilst playing at left midfield in place of Jackson who had been replaced by Wagstaff. He gathered it well, and cut back inside evading two defenders before calmly slotting the ball into the net. As a game, it was as near to a regulation two nil as it gets, and now we can all look forward to our day trip up the Thames to Fulham on Saturday.

Charlton 0 Brentford 1

If you thought we played badly today, think yourself lucky you weren't at MK Dons on Tuesday night. Now that was bad, really really bad. Today we were hugely better, albeit coming off a very low base. Brentford won at The Valley for the first time in 85 years, and quite frankly Charlton never looked like getting that little bit of luck that was needed. One crossbar, and one outstanding save saw to that.

As for the team, Dailly went off at half time, but whatever the problem was, it happened after about ten minutes, as I could clearly hear him telling the bench that he thought he was in trouble. Llera was impressive at getting on the end of free kicks and corners in the Brentford box, and deserved better than to crash one of his many towering headers off the bar. He was my man of the match, on a day that saw the latest big lump up front make his debut. I like the look of Nouble, and with some training ground familiarity I believe he can do a good job for us.

The reality of today's embarassment for me, lay fairly and squarely with the midfield. They did not protect the back four, and provided little in the way of service to the strikers. It had all started so promisingly with news reaching us in the Rose of Denmark that Francis had been dropped. It lifted a sombre mood, where yet again we faced the prospect of good company and a few beers being spoilt by 90 minutes of "football". I still believe Solly rather than Jenkinson is the better option at right back, but as it turned out we got to see both.

As if to make up for this heinous act of dropping his partner in crime, McCormack was still in the side, and treated us to a couple more heart stopping moments. Why did anyone believe that taking not one but two players from a relegated Southend side was somehow going to make us stronger? Ask Parkinson that one I suppose, and I guess a lack of funds had a lot to do with it, but today I heard something at The Valley, that I genuinely did not expect to hear. Someone openly and very loudly criticising the appointment of Powell, and the loss of a "good bloke" in Parkinson.

I never believed that Parkinson was the right man for the job, and I remain unconvinced that Powell is either, but am willing to see how it goes. To my mind Powell only works if he is genuinely going to be given at least a couple of years to learn his trade with us. I hear what people are saying about rebuilding the team during the summer, but before we all get too happy, let's not forget that our very own mafia of the mediocre, Francis, McCormack, and Doherty are all on contracts that don't expire until the end of the 2012 season. It doesn't stop anyone trying to buy them of course, but I just don't see a queue of managers lining up to secure their talents, do you?

So, down to 11th, and closer to relegation than promotion. As some wag shouted during the first half, "Sort it 'aht Alex, this is Dyer"

Charlton 2 Swindon 2

When I heard the team news in the Rose of Denmark before the game, I had to think hard about the rationale behind Parkinson's choice in midfield. The only logical reason I could see for going with no width, and a diamond formation, was that he believed that Swindon posed no threat down the flanks, and that after the midfield had been breached at will by Millwall last time out, he wanted a narrower stiffer combination in the centre of the park. Whether it would have worked is open to conjecture, but I must admit, I didn't feel comfortable with it when I first heard about it.

As it turned out, any game plan Parkinson had for the match, was thrown out of the window after referee Miller sent both Sodje Snr, and Burton off, both of which were correct decisions. We almost lost this game due to a lack of discipline by two of our most experienced players! The fact that we did not, was down to a number of factors, not least of which being that Swindon were really not very good. Credit has to go to the nine remaining men, and with Parkinson refusing to be pinned down, the substitutions were telling, and all of them brought fresh attacking impetus to a depleted side, 2-1 down shortly after the arrival of McKenzie. Both of Swindon's goals were the result of superior numbers rather than any error on the part of the nine men left fighting for a point on the park.

Despite the heroics, and for the second game in a row, Charlton threw away two points, and as a result, both Norwich and Colchester have us firmly in their gunsights again. Sodje Snr, and Burton will know that they let their team down today, and Basey having witnessed all of the above, obviously did not get the message, and also picked up a stupid booking for dissent.

Perhaps Parkinson needs to do some homework on the referees in this division, as yesterday, leaving the two sendings off aside, Charlton were almost undone by a referee that obviously felt that Charlton were Billy Big Bollocks, and his sole reason for being on earth was to make sure that they did not get away with it. As a result, his behaviour meant that he acted as Swindon's 12th man against our nine. The fact that Swindon only got one booking in the game was quite frankly farcical, as their behaviour on occasions was almost as silly as that of Charlton, and warranted far more card waving than they actually received.

Parkinson now has a serious selection issue for the Brentford game, as both Sodje Snr, and Burton are now banned. With Dailly still likely to be ill, the club has only one recognised senior centre back available. With Youga also missing, this means that Semedo will almost certainly have to drop back to partner yesterday's hero Llera, with obvious ramifications on the midfield. With Burton also out of the picture, I would expect a reversion to 4-4-1-1, with Shelvey retained, and Dickson consigned to the bench. Sam will be back, and I would expect Spring to retain his place alongside Bailey. I would also like to see McKenzie on the left, as I believe he deserves a start, and it also gives the option to switch to a 4-3-3 if progress against our west London neighbours merits it. Sodje Jnr is not a natural player to hold the ball up, but I believe he will be Parkinson's preference for the lone front man role.

With the January transfer window almost upon us, what price a central defender, and a striker? Yesterday, the price was two dropped points.