Charlton 2 Notts County 4

Where on earth do you begin with today's game? Well, the first and most important thing is

DON'T PANIC!!!

The first half was as poor a performance as I have seen in a long time. Hamer and Taylor will not need to be told that at least two of the goals against were down to them. It was as if the team as a whole had only just met each other, such was the lack of communication. If Hamer and Taylor were talking a different language for one of the goals, then cameos of the same malaise were being played out all over the pitch. Judge put County ahead with a 25-yard drive, that he was able to tee up in an acre of space, before Forte grabbed three close-range efforts, the final one a header, to make it 4-0, and all before the break.

So other than Hamer and Taylor, where else were there issues? Undoubtedly for me, the main area of concern today was the central midfield, and Stephens in particular. Both he and Hollands pushed up far too high, and were largely bypassed. Stephens first touch was awful, giving the ball away in a dangerous position twice within the first five minutes alone. He is talented, but let's face it, he has not been the same player since he came back from injury, Today was not an isolated poor performance from him either, and in much the same way that Green has apparently picked up a shoulder knock, it is time Stephens had a similar misfortune. Hughes or Russell are both far more defensively aware, and would cover the protection role that significantly nobody did today, thus exposing Taylor in particular rather badly on more than one occasion.

The half time team talk saw a far better Charlton team return to the pitch, albeit for no more than ten minutes. Wright-Phillips pulled one back with an acrobatic overhead kick, before Wagstaff powered in a header from six yards. Any momentum caused by those two goals vanished when Wright-Phillips had an appeal for a penalty turned down. It was a stonewall penalty, and would have put us in a position for an unlikely 4-4 draw, but it wasn't to be, and quite frankly we did not deserve it either.

Leaving aside all the Powell is the Messiah guff, the manager now really needs to earn his corn. For my money the MK Dons are the team to watch out for, not the two Sheffields, and it will take a minimum of five wins from the last ten games to achieve the title, and yes, I mean the title. Mind you, if we only got five wins, I suspect we would only get it on goal difference. I remember watching Powell motionless on the sidelines like a rabbit in the headlights last season at Stadium MK as the team he had inherited were pulled apart. He was motionless throughout most of the first half today as well. As any Charlton fan will tell you, we do not do the last ten games of a season at all well. Powell will need to break that habit if we are to get the rewards we deserve for the season we have had so far.

COYR!

MK Dons 1 Charlton 1

It's a funny old game isn't it? For most of the first half last Saturday, Charlton played some of the best football I have seen at The Valley for many a year. Last night at the comfortable if soulless home of the MK Dons, we were unable to replicate it, or indeed get anywhere near the same level of performance. Much of the "credit" for that has to go to Robinson and Gorman, whose five man midfield set out to frustrate and nullify the threat of Hollands and Stephens, and for the first half they were very successful at it.

The second part of the strategy was to exploit Wagstaff and Solly down our right side. Solly stuck gamely to the task of containing Lewington and Balanta amongst others. Wagstaff was not so successful at it, and was caught in possession all too frequently by the hard working MK Dons midfield. It was a shame that it was Solly who brought down Lewington for the penalty, as he deserved better for a battling and whole hearted performance.

The replacement of Wagstaff by Green mid way through the second half had an immediate effect, stiffening up an embattled right flank, but with Kermorgant replacing Hayes just after the introduction of Green, came the equaliser. The feint that Green pulled on Lewington was a joy to see. The former Wimbledon man had controlled his left (and our right) flank all match with an authoritative display, but within minutes of being on, Green mugged him completely and was scampering away towards the goal before the MK Dons number three knew what had happened. His cross was a beauty, and the onrushing Kermorgant got his head to it. Martin in The MK Dons goal will probably wince when he sees the replay of the ball hitting him, bouncing onto the post and in, but it was just reward for a far better second half display from Charlton.

On balance a draw was a fair result, and both sides could have gone on to win it in the closing stages. When the final whistle came, it was the first half of a difficult week over. I said in an earlier post that I would be happy with two draws from this week, and I see little reason to change that expectation now.

Charlton 3 Chesterfield 1

It was a good day at the office yesterday, and after the initial ten minutes, when Chesterfield were in the ascendancy, the rest of the first half was dominated by a purposeful Charlton side, whose passing and movement were just too much for John Sheridan's side. The two goals that seperated the side at the break could easily have been six, such was the superiority of the hosts.

As with all things Charlton, you sort of knew it wouldn't last of course, and the second half saw both teams emerge in a very lacklustre manner. It was Chesterfield that woke up first, and nobody could argue that it was a penalty. I am sure Morrison slipped slightly, which contributed to the mistimed tackle that led to Chesterfield's consolation goal from the penalty spot.

If that was an obvious penalty, then the incident that led to Sheridan being sent to the stands was just as obviously not a penalty. Wiggins going to ground, with his back to the attacking player would have known nothing of the ball that hit his arm, but that didn't stop the Chesterfield manager going into one with any official within hearing distance. There was no intent on Wiggins part, and to have conceded a penalty would have been unjust, and a sour note for our left back, who, for me, had his best game in a Charlton shirt yesterday.

Charlton's first goal was a clever piece of improvisation by Hayes, who flicked a ball from Wright-Phillips under his standing leg, and through a crowded penalty area into the net. If that was instinctive, then goal number two looked to be straight from the training ground, Jackson burying a quickly taken free kick cleverly slid to him by Stephens. It was good to see Powell berating Wagstaff soon after for leaving one of the opposition's strikers free on the edge of the penalty area at a Chesterfield corner, so messages about not switching off when 2-0 up are obviously being conveyed to the players at Sparrows Lane.

It took the penalty for Chesterfield to wake Charlton up, and even though the team were not playing with the same fluidity as in the first half, they started to make chances again. The third goal came courtesy of new boy Kermorgant. A straight replacement for Hayes, the former Leicester man had a very useful cameo in the last ten minutes. It was his clever precision pass that split the back line allowing Wagstaff all the time he needed to flight a ball across to Wright-Phillips to put the game beyond reach.

So, as per the form book, Charlton reach the end of September (nearly) on top of the pile. Three points ahead of second placed Sheffield United, and with a game in hand. But as all Addicks know, this coming week is the real acid test. MK Dons on Tuesday is a game I will be attending, as I did last year, when the performance was little short of dreadful. Sheffield United away on Saturday will be a true top of the table clash. Am I the only one that would settle for a draw in both right now?

MK Dons 2 Charlton 0

If it's hope that kills you, then Charlton are doing their level best to put us all out of our misery. A strangely lacklustre game, reminiscent of a training match played at three quarter intensity. "Remember lads, no hard tackling, this is just about meaningless passing with no end result. The result is not important" What else can I put tonight down to? There was an inevitability about the result from the moment it became obvious that an ultra conservative 4-5-1 had been adopted. We are not good enough to simply play for a point; fact.

The only player that looked like he cared tonight was Reid, and despite the predictable dreadful final ball, at least looked like he wanted to cause MK Dons some trouble. Meanwhile, Powell looked on, motionless from the sidelines. I am not sure if it was the act of a manager caught like a rabbit in the headlights, or the stance of a man that now realises the enormity of the task he has taken on, and is powerless to change anything meaningfully in the short term to transform the team's fortunes.

Five minutes from time, I sat in my upholstered seat, and promised myself that I would not single out Francis and McCormack. After all, the whole team had been poor, so why single them out?, despite the fact that both had put the team in danger on a number of occasions yet again, as appears to be their wont. As we entered injury time however, Francis gifted MK Dons the opportunity to deliver the coup de grace. Losing the ball yet again in a dangerous position, two MK Dons players scampered away, and an easy win was sealed as Baldock slid the ball into an empty net. A merciful killing indeed.

I will be there again on Saturday, but firmly of the belief that the play offs are beyond the capability of what we call our team. This same team that won four in a row when Powell was first appointed, has now taken one point out of a possible eighteen. Thirteen above the relegation zone, and ten away from the playoffs. Mid table obscurity is the only realistic "hope" I have for this season. Thankfully I was only twenty minutes away from a couple of pints. The people I feel sorry for are the hardcore fans who had to trek back south. Their passion and performance tonight put the team to shame, but even they must have been tempted to head for the exit when Charlton's capitulation was complete deep into injury time. We all deserve so much better than this.

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.

Preparation?

The result of the Swansea game was one that I predicted, but sadly, just as our form shows signs of taking a turn for the better, those around us are turning their own fortunes around to more spectacular effect. Unfortunately, I cannot make home games in midweek, as I work in Northampton, so in preparation for next season, I shall be paying a visit to Sixfields tonight to see the local derby between the MK Dons, and Northampton Town.

After all, the likelihood is that we will either be playing the MK Dons in the Championship, or Northampton Town in League 1. There you go, glass half empty, or glass half full, all in one sentence