Charlton Athletic vs Brighton & Hove Albion *** Official Match Thread ***

[perseus]

CAFC perspective (one of many): Felt the game was fought out by two teams lacking cohesion and quality in the final third. To be honest, I thought it was a pretty poor showing, however, we were clearly the poorer of the two teams on display. Met up with a couple of Albion supporting mates beforehand and the pub was buzzing. Very good support. Anyway, wish you all the best for the rest of the season, I'm sure Hughton will pull you well clear of the drop zone. You may pass us on your way up the table as we continue to plummet. We were shocking and I'm starting to worry about getting dragged into the dog fight.

http://www.cafc.co.uk/news/article/charlton-brighton-match-report-2193673.aspx

Listening to it on the radio and I did not feel overly anxious at any time. Solly (for them) hit the bar out of the blue.

I tipped Charlton for relegation before the start of the season, but not the team to fall a long way behind like Blackpool, or expected to struggle like Millwall, but the club most likely out of about half a dozen teams "too good to go down".

Because of our horrendous fixture finish (last 3 games) to the season, I will not feel anything like happy until we out 9 points clear of the relegation zone.

 

[Zukey Seagull]

i went along yesterday and really enjoyed it once again. the 2 people standing in front of me had never been to an away game before. near the start of the game i was singing and he started rubbing his ear then later on i was shouting "tony blooms blue and white army" then he turned around and said "what a set of lungs you have"
i was rather impressed with myself considering i had a cold. his mate was filming the crowd throughout the whole game.
I know its random.

 

[*Gullsworth*]

i went along yesterday and really enjoyed it once again. the 2 people standing in front of me had never been to an away game before. near the start of the game i was singing and he started rubbing his ear then later on i was shouting "tony blooms blue and white army" then he turned around and said "what a set of lungs you have"
i was rather impressed with myself considering i had a cold. his mate was filming the crowd throughout the whole game.
I know its random.

Sounds as if you were standing behind a couple of Coppers!

 

[Bold Seagull]

You've got to love NSC. Here we are in 19th and starting to get excited about the playoffs.

I'm not being glass half empty and I'm feeling pretty confident that we should climb well clear of the dreaded dotted line of 22nd place but it's still too early to tell if we are just experiencing the old "dead cat bounce" (with apologies to Glasfryn for the turn of phrase).

Top half of the table would be just lovely.

It's not NSC, it's all football fans, and has always been like that. Get a decent run going and you can't imagine getting beaten again for the rest of the season. Lose 2 and the world is going to end.

Who want's to go to football and not dream about what might happen if we won the next 5!? Love it. We won't obviously, but there is a buzz about the place that will hopefully filter into the dressing room and start giving that fragile confidence some shots in the arm.

Great day out on Saturday, we took the Hove train West direct to Victoria which turned out to be a great shout rather than messing with buses. Table seats, few beers and nibbles, amazing scenery, got to the ground in plenty of time, like clockwork. 3 points in the back pocket, play-off's here we come!!!*






*Anywhere not in the 20's will be fine by me!

 

[Simster]

CAFC perspective (one of many): Felt the game was fought out by two teams lacking cohesion and quality in the final third. To be honest, I thought it was a pretty poor showing, however, we were clearly the poorer of the two teams on display. Met up with a couple of Albion supporting mates beforehand and the pub was buzzing. Very good support. Anyway, wish you all the best for the rest of the season, I'm sure Hughton will pull you well clear of the drop zone. You may pass us on your way up the table as we continue to plummet. We were shocking and I'm starting to worry about getting dragged into the dog fight.

I don't think you were anywhere near as bad as a lot of Charlton fans are saying. In truth, the final third and effectiveness up front is what separates the best teams from the rest at this level, but if you're organised at the back you won't trouble the bottom three - and your defence looks too good for that.

By the way, Bikey looks like a quality player as well as a UNIT. He was quicker than Craig McKail-Smith, no lack of skill and probably should have scored in the first half. Do Charlton fans rate him?

 

[Questions]

I love going to Charlton and to think the 2nd time I went there - 74 I think - we had a gun pulled on us from one of their lads on the terrace. The old Ian Norris coach regulars from Worthing might remember that. To be honest I think it might only have been a starting pistol but............ I think we won 4-0 anyway that day.

 

[Blackaddick_CAFC]

I don't think you were anywhere near as bad as a lot of Charlton fans are saying. In truth, the final third and effectiveness up front is what separates the best teams from the rest at this level, but if you're organised at the back you won't trouble the bottom three - and your defence looks too good for that.

By the way, Bikey looks like a quality player as well as a UNIT. He was quicker than Craig McKail-Smith, no lack of skill and probably should have scored in the first half. Do Charlton fans rate him?

He started off really well. As you say, he is a unit. Not the tallest but he was so strong and commanding in the air and on the ground at the start of the season. We lost our keeper to a long-term injury and since then he's looked a bit shaky and seems to have been guilty of more lapses of concentration. Some fans are also saying that he has put on a bit of weight and looks a big sluggish. So yes, I guess we do rate him, but he can be erratic at times. He has been incredible when he has been on his game.

You are also right about organisation going a long way in this division. Just being solid and well organised kept us from tasting defeat until towards the end of October and Saturday's defeat was only our second at home in the league this season. In many of those games we've been unspectacular but very solid and compact and opposing teams haven't had the quality to break us down. If we can return to this I think we should be okay.