Charlton Athletic Online

The Prston fans tried to enjoy themselves, but their bowler hat wearing remembrance show for the Gentry was not upheld by any more than half the present 600-or so who travelled. What was interststing about the crowd was that it was announced at a mere 19,200, and therefore represented the first Addicks home game with a crowd of less than 20,000 for quite soime years...a sign of things to come.

Ultimately, this point won is pretty irrelevant in the context of the season, and the management now seem to be accepting the inevitable. I for one still wish to see the best team that can be picked – which includes Zheng Zhi – each game and the club have that responsibility to do so until all is lost and relegation confirmed. At that point, decisions on which players becomes easier as they make their minds up on who is to stay and who will be let go this summer. Mark Kinsella is quoted as saying that up to fourteen players could be out of contract, though some of these may be offered new deals (maybe at lower terms?). Those known as out of contract include Nicky Weaver, Matt Holland, Darren Ambrose, Zheng Zhi, Svetislav Todorov, Harry Arter, Dean Sinclair, Martin Christensen, and possibly Aswad Thomas, Scott Wagstaff, and Danny Uchechi. I’m not sure who any others may be? Everyone has their own favourites, and some of these players may be persuaded to stay at (sometimes drastically) lower terms – Matt Holland for instance – but who knows.

What we will have next year is a drastically reduced squad, a much lower wage bill, but hopefully one which can compete and be near the top of the league table. I just hope the fans turn up to see them play...

Well at least my doomy prediction was thankfully very wrong, and Charlton did very well to get another away point it seems.

I was not able to attend, or listen to, the match, so can only reflect on in-game texts, and other reports.

Nicky Bailey slid in the first goal after 16 minutes, and the Addicks hung on until half-time, with Reading hitting the woodwork three times in that opening half.

Very early in the second period, the home team were awarded a dodgy penaty after a seemingly fair tackle by Darren Ward, and this was converted by Shane Long. Long then scored again from a corner, but Charlton fought back, and equalised through Mark Hudson six minutes from full time.

Phi Parkinson, so long a Reading player, will have been happy to have taken something from the match, although in terms of this season, the single point is a little irrelevant bearing in mind how far behind the rest of the teams in the division Charlton are. Parky picked a midfield heavy side, with Tom Soares and Zheng Zhi starting, and also brought back Chris Dickson and Darren Ambrose to the bench.

There was no sign of any of the promised youngsters, which considering who we were playing (the top scorers in this league) was probably wise.

At least the players seem to have been competitive in this match, and did battle back after falling behind, but what rankles is how frequent half-time leads or even parity are being gifted away to the opposition in the few minutes after the players return to the pitch. The referee obviously had something to do with the Reading equaliser last night (apparently 12 seconds after the restart...), but you have to have some sympathy for a fifteen minutes team talk being made worthless by conceding just after the break. On other occasions, you might question why teams seem to be able to up their game after the interval, when Charlton palpably cannot - one for Parky to ponder there...

I'm happy that Charlton players seem to have played with their hearts last night, and hopefully, another difficult game at the weekend can produce a similar sort of result. The season is lost, and any brief glimmers of hope should be taken in context, but it would be nice to try to finish on some sort of high note, even if we do what is likely and finish bottom of the division.

Charlton Athletic 1 Doncaster Rovers 2

On a wet and windy night, Charlton’s fate this season was probably sealed with a home defeat against the division’s in-form team – Doncaster. This was a must win game for bottom of the table Charlton, and the Addicks lost it.

Pretty much everything that could go wrong yesterday did: My journey to the ground was laboriously slow due to traffic and road works and took twice as long as normal; I found my number 17 voucher missing from my season ticket book which meant a quick foray to the main ticket office to rectify matters; my seat was getting soaked before, during, and no doubt after the game and I got suitably drenched; my plea for a “homer” ref came up with exhibitionist Rob Styles; and of course, the result didn’t help my manner.

Charlton went into the game with just the one expected change – the on-loan Danny Butterfield replacing Graeme Murty who was injured and had returned early from his own loan period to Reading. Although you could see that Donny were adept at passing the ball around well on the sodden pitch, it was Charlton who had the best of the opening. Chris Dickson and Jonjo Shelvey both twice got into shooting positions in the first ten minutes, but each time the ball was either driven well wide or scuffed.

Sadly Dickson had one of those games that show why he shouldn’t be such an automatic choice to start in this league – failing to hold the ball up, failing to do his work in covering defenders when they had the ball, and most culpably, failing to get any sort of shot on target throughout the game despite numerous "attempts".

Shelvey’s shooting was of similar calibre throughout, but at least he busied himself in the first half, before fading during the second period.

There were possibly only two attacks of note ion the first 45 minutes – after Dickson held the ball out wide and won a corner, Shelvey’s dead ball fell to the head of Hudson, and at the far post, Tom Soares rose to turn it goalwards but against the bar, from where it was cleared. Later, Charlton nearly conceded after a magnificent passing spell from the visitors. There must have been over twenty fast passes – short and long – that took the ball from one end of the pitch to the other, via both wings, and finally a cross was fashioned which fell right onto a forwards head. Luckily for the Addicks, he must had been admiring the build up play and completely mistimed the header when he should have scored.

A level half-time score may have suited Charlton better, as they had been playing into the strong wind, but it was Doncaster who scored soon after the resumption. The ball was worked through the Charlton defence near the left wing corner flag and Coppinger – a thorn in Charlton’s side all night - burst through, came out to give himself an angle and fired across and round Rob Elliott into the far corner.

Charlton needed a quick response, but with Dickson still struggling, Shelvey fading, and the midfield closed down it was not forthcoming.

After an hour, Phil Parkinson proved he does know how to use substitutes, when he brought on Lloyd Sam in place of the quiet Soares, and Deon Burton in place of the anonymous Matt Spring. Sadly during the rest of the match Sam saw little of the ball, and Burton was as ineffective as he normally is.

A corner was won on 73 minutes, and once more it was top goal scorer Nicky Bailey who provided the equaliser. In similar fashion to Saturday, Bailey received the clearance just outside the penalty area and this time his controlled volley (left), rather than full bloodied shot, arrowed into the corner of the net past the unsighted keeper.

This could have signalled the revival that home fans wanted, but within three minutes, and not for the first time this season, Charlton failed to hang on to what they had. Bailey was adjudged by the linesman to have fouled the Donny forward, whose fall was acrobatic to say the least, and although Styles took time to think about it, his decision went against the home team. Elliott dived the right way, but could not get close to the penalty kick.

From there, it was much more of the same, even though Darren Ambrose came on for Kelly Youga, with Charlton playing three at the back for the last ten minutes. The last act by showman Styles was to even up the "not sending someone off" count. Ealrier, Donny's already booked Chambers had come in late on Youga but Styles played an advantage. When play did stop, he chose not to take any action. Late in the game, Therry Racon, who had been booked for a late tackle in the first half, tripped a player to stop a Doncaster break; Styles theatrically called Racon then skipper Mark Hudson to him before making it clear that a red would follow any further fouls by the Frenchman.

It was a pretty poor game from a Charlton perspective, even though the effort could not be questioned. Doncaster looked better organised, they were much more confident, and played almost all of the football on the night. Charlton simply had no answer to their short one-two’s and pass and move tactics, even though I’m sure this is how Donny have set up all season. If Donny can replicate the form they currently have over the last ten games of the season, it would not be a surprise to see them creep into the play offs (they are nine points shy at present), and as the form team, anything could happen from there (Premiership beware!).

Charlton can probably consider themselves as good as down now; other results place the Addicks twelve points from the fourth bottom club, and the number of points required to remain in this league now looks like it may be at least fifty. That would require Charlton to almost double their season tally in order to survive, and I doubt that can be achieved in the remaining eleven matches.

So from here it looks like Parky will need to have one eye on next year, and division three; I would still hope to see him bring back Zheng Zhi (for Matt Spring, who seems pretty ineffective lately), and retain Shelvey in the starting team. Some of the others who are not going (or unlikely) to be at the club next year though should be jettisoned (from the sixteen) as soon as possible, including Ambrose, Matt Holland, and Svetislav Todorov. Youngsters like Toks Yussuff, Josh Wright, and Stuart Fleetwood (and possibly even new pro’s Jack Clark and Alex Stavrinou) should also see bench (and where possible, game) time over the remaining part of the season, so that they are ready when required next year.

In the afternoon before the game, I got out an old video and watched The Deer Hunter for the first time in about twenty five years. Like Charlton’s plight, it is quite sad at the end, and the final scene sees the cast drink a toast, a toast that today seems opportune to our only bright light it seems…To Nick.