Saturday, October 29, 2005
Tired of SE7
Charlton Athletic 0 Bolton Wanderers 1
Tired legs, the result of Charlton's midweek Cup win over Chelsea, hurt Charlton today, as Bolton out-fought the home side to pilfer three points late into a dogged match. The only goal was a cruel piece of fortune for the home team, as Bolton's only reasonable effort of the match counted - Faye found space in midfield, and having no options available, took aim at goal. His shot looked fairly harmless but took a wicked deflection. You could hear the groan from the crowd as the ball was heading for the corner of the net, but amazingly, Stephan Andersen lept to his right and pushed the ball away. It was as much as he could do. The bad news for Charlton was that Nakata was quickest to follow up and he squared the ball for the waiting Kevin Nolan to tap into an empty net.
Charlton had a couple of good efforts to save a point - Johannsson having his shot beaten away, and Jaaskelainen tipping over a Bryan Hughes header from point blank range in the dying minutes.
It was disappointing to hear some of the crowd giving very negative comments about certain players near the end; Jay Bothroyd, in for his first Premiership start for Charlton due to Darren Bent's illness, took the brunt, though he tried his best all match. He was joined up front in the frantic last ten minutes by Man of the Match Hermann Hreidersson, who was immense throughout. In fact, no Charlton players had bad games - Kishishev, Young, Perry, and Smertin (before being substituted with a groin injury) all played well.
This was the first time this season that Charlton were stretched by injuries in key areas - without Bent, and with Murphy marked very tightly, the feeling was that goals would be very hard to come by. Bothroyd did not look like the answer to the home teams needs, anymore than Shaun Bartlett, Kevin Lisbie, or JJ have in the recent past.
So it's a very disappointing, although not unexpected, end to another eventful week at Charlton.
The future King has been to visit and pulled on a Charlton shirt; we've knocked the footballing Kings (Chelsea) out of the cup, and won our fifth Premiership away game on the trot (at Pompey). We've also learnt in todays defeat that points in this league don't come easy, and that a tired Charlton are far from the finished article that some fans may have thought they were.
Next week, Charlton travel to Blackburn for their next Premiership fixture, and it is Rovers that Charlton have been drawn against in the next round of the Carling Cup, with the game to be played at The Valley in late November. Hopefully, after a week's rest, and with Darren Bent back leading the forward line, Charlton's 100% away record can be maintained and the bragging rights will be with The Addicks when the two clubs meet in the cup later in the month.
Tired legs, the result of Charlton's midweek Cup win over Chelsea, hurt Charlton today, as Bolton out-fought the home side to pilfer three points late into a dogged match. The only goal was a cruel piece of fortune for the home team, as Bolton's only reasonable effort of the match counted - Faye found space in midfield, and having no options available, took aim at goal. His shot looked fairly harmless but took a wicked deflection. You could hear the groan from the crowd as the ball was heading for the corner of the net, but amazingly, Stephan Andersen lept to his right and pushed the ball away. It was as much as he could do. The bad news for Charlton was that Nakata was quickest to follow up and he squared the ball for the waiting Kevin Nolan to tap into an empty net.
Charlton had a couple of good efforts to save a point - Johannsson having his shot beaten away, and Jaaskelainen tipping over a Bryan Hughes header from point blank range in the dying minutes.
It was disappointing to hear some of the crowd giving very negative comments about certain players near the end; Jay Bothroyd, in for his first Premiership start for Charlton due to Darren Bent's illness, took the brunt, though he tried his best all match. He was joined up front in the frantic last ten minutes by Man of the Match Hermann Hreidersson, who was immense throughout. In fact, no Charlton players had bad games - Kishishev, Young, Perry, and Smertin (before being substituted with a groin injury) all played well.This was the first time this season that Charlton were stretched by injuries in key areas - without Bent, and with Murphy marked very tightly, the feeling was that goals would be very hard to come by. Bothroyd did not look like the answer to the home teams needs, anymore than Shaun Bartlett, Kevin Lisbie, or JJ have in the recent past.
So it's a very disappointing, although not unexpected, end to another eventful week at Charlton.
The future King has been to visit and pulled on a Charlton shirt; we've knocked the footballing Kings (Chelsea) out of the cup, and won our fifth Premiership away game on the trot (at Pompey). We've also learnt in todays defeat that points in this league don't come easy, and that a tired Charlton are far from the finished article that some fans may have thought they were.
Next week, Charlton travel to Blackburn for their next Premiership fixture, and it is Rovers that Charlton have been drawn against in the next round of the Carling Cup, with the game to be played at The Valley in late November. Hopefully, after a week's rest, and with Darren Bent back leading the forward line, Charlton's 100% away record can be maintained and the bragging rights will be with The Addicks when the two clubs meet in the cup later in the month.
