An Important Win

Sheffield Wednesday 0-1 Charlton Athletic.

So we get the points in the first of two six-pointer games. Next week Wednesday's neighbours, Sheffield United, visit Charlton.

Of course they are not really six point games. A win still only gives you three points, but the advantage gained by beating teams also vying for promotion can seem like double the points are on offer. The visit to Sheffield Wednesday may well have been the more difficult of these two games as they were unbeaten at home this season until our visit. On the other hand United are the in-form team. If we do get the three points in that game, champions of the third division starts to look like ours to lose rather than for anyone else to win.

Year ends badly for Charlton

So the last game of the year ended up with 1-0 loss to the Orient. The Charlton keeper was sent off very early in the game so there's an excuse. The shame is both Sheffield teams got three points. A win at home to Brentford is very much needed tomorrow.

I have to add I have a soft spot for Orient. Many years ago I had an invite to their directors box for a pre-season friendly against I think Grimsby. It was during the very early eighties and at the time there were quite a few more mature players finishing their careers for the O's. The ones I can remember are Stan Bowles, who had sent an apprentice down the road to put a bet on, Ralph Coates and Mervyn Day. Also a young winger called John Chiedozie was playing who promised so much for the future.

What made my day was the minicab driver taking me over to the game. I would have been in my late twenties or early thirties. I dressed up for the occasion with a blue velvet jacket and a nice pair of strides. I looked the part, and even though I was smoking with the window open, the driver was convinced I was a player. This was helped by the fact that the entrance to the directors box was via the ground's players entrance. That was the one only time I ever been mistaken for an athlete unfortunately.

Still unbeaten but not top

It had to be. We didn't get the three points, just the one. Sort of knew that was coming. Charlton 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday.

Good point was that there was still a +14,000 crowd for a Monday night division 3 game.

Still up there

A good away win at Bury and a win over Reading in the League Cup on the Tuesday of the week before were very good. This week we have to wait for a Monday night game to see if we can keep up with the other two early leaders, Sheffield United and MK Dons (*boo). Our game is at home against the Sheffield team, Sheffield Wednesday, who are not known as pushovers but 3 points will put us as joint division points leaders.

The Independent carried a nice interview with Chris Powell about his team building policy. Nice does seem the right word for Chris. He comes over as a genuinely nice fellow and I do wish him well for more than just selfish reasons.

Charlton Athletic 2-1 Ipswich Town

A win was most needed after a strange run of results. Since my last Charlton post we had lost a home and had an away win, an away draw and an away loss. I will list them below.

Doncaster Rovers 0-1 Charlton Athletic
Nottingham Forest 0-0 Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic 1-2 Sheffield Wednesday
Crystal Palace 1-0 Charlton Athletic

Of course, it's the last one of those that hurts as we lost to our local rivals for the first time in the best part of a dozen years. Rivalry like that between Charlton and Palace would be very hard for some of the media yuppies, or foreign owners, to understand. When a few seasons back the Charlton crowd cheered as they sent Palace down to the Championship some reporters couldn't understand it. It was because they failed to understand the basic tribal nature of our football in the UK.

Why are Palace so disliked by the likes of Charlton and Millwall? Many would point to the ground-sharing which Charlton did with Palace after they lost their own ground. I suspect it goes a bit deeper. Palace was always more middle class, more suburban, in fact more Croydon than it's more working class neighbours like Millwall in New Cross or the Charlton's Woolwich area.

Let's hope we are playing a bit better on the 27th. January when the reverse fixture takes place. I wonder why both these games are midweek evening games and not at least one over the Christmas and New Year period. I guess the Met need an easy life now.

Are Charlton good enough for promotion?

Our favourite Charlton blogger is no longer blogging. Frankie Valley was an important stop in my day to get a more light-hearted view of how the team was doing. So that just leaves us with a more serious look.

So to answer the question on whether they are good enough I can honestly say, "I don't know". The last three games have been a loss (Scunthorpe), a win (Palace) and a draw (Sheffield Wednesday). The best of the midfielders, Reid, went off to Sunderland last month. I guess a loss against fellow promotion candidates Watford on Saturday would tell us not to hope too much while a win would put us right back in the race.