In a way, we should have expected this.

i) A very physical Hull side ... in fact, at times, becoming very dirty. Well, their manager was number two to Sam Allardyce so no surprise. But how can their fans enjoy watching that crap every week?
ii) Rubbish ref ... seem to say this most weeks, so what's the point? We knew they were not that great in the Premiership, and these are the refs that cannot make it to that level - 'nuff said.
iii) A bag-load of injuries and suspensions ... although, surprisingly, ZZ and Ambrose were back despite being tipped on the OS as being out with injury.

What we should not expect is the abject display put on by Charlton ... there were times during the first half when I felt I was watching a team playing up on Charlton Park. They were awful! My son pointed out that Hull were one of the worst teams he had seen ... I reminded him that, on the day, we were no better!

No-one came out of this display looking good ... I can't even be bothered to give ratings to the players ... suffice to say, they would all be low. Yes, they can say that certain players were still not fit, but if that were the case, they should not have been playing. We all expected a few of the kids to play yesterday and they didn't. That doesn't mean that the score would have been any different but at least we may have departed from the Valley thinking ... well, they tried under difficult circumstances.

I'll be glad never to play Hull again ... but we have to do a bit more to ensure we are not in the same division as them next year.

And I can't finish this post without mentioning Danny Mills. He had a chance to leave the Valley as a hero ... and instead left as a prat. Surely he should know that we hate play-acting at the Valley, and yet he tried it on 3 or 4 occasions. And then to swear at the ref and get sent off like a petulant kid ... what an idiot! And this guy apparently earns something between 30k and 40k a week ... a good week's work then Danny, eh?

Mills has been a revelation for us this season and I so hoped that Charlton could somehow do a deal and keep him for at least the rest of the season ... now, I'm not so sure.

Two away games coming up, so we should get at least 4 points ... but when are they gonna bring it together at home? Apart from one half against Ipswich and other short phases, we are not seeing a promotion winning team - Maybe that will change on New Years Day.

I have been one of those on Charlton Life stating how much I have been enjoying this season. Not sure why at the moment, but I still am ... however it's getting closer to the time when certain individuals in the red shirt need to stand up and be counted.

Have just read the OS .. good to see that Pards agrees about Mills - quoted as saying it was 'inexcusable'. 'We have been discussing the situation with Man City, in terms of keeping Danny ... I feel it's a difficult time to reflect on that decision right now, so I will absorb the decision over the next few days' said Pardew. Bloody hell Danny, you could have well and truly screwed this one up for everyone including yourself!

Good match report from Wyn Grant, and player ratings from Charlton North Downs - he is far more generous that I would have been and his marks are low already!

Blackheath addicted says much of what I would have said ... but in a far better fashion ... if I could have been bothered to write a proper match report on this turgid display, although I also think his player ratings are too generous!

Have a great Christmas everyone, and enjoy the New Year!!!

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Excellent game to watch for the neutral and showed a few Premiership sides that there are at least 2 teams better than some of the dross in the lower half of the top division.

Overall, Albion deserved the result, but if Izzy had made more of his chance this may well have been a 3-3 game .. possibly we may have won, even though against the odds.

This is a strange division ... a couple of weeks ago after the Burnley game, I was so annoyed that I could not be bothered to post ... and then we go on to win away at Cardiff, and demolish Ipswich in a superb first half.

Not many teams will win at the Hawthorns when they are in that type of attacking form ... a point mentioned by a few Baggies fans on their message boards ... this was one of their best displays of the season. We had a number of injury / suspension issues, some of our team were not on top form, we picked up even more injuries ... on another day under different circumstances, who knows!

As for my thoughts on the team:

Weaver - could have been a little more forceful at times, but had a good game despite conceding four
Semedo - not one of his best, but was not playing in his preferred position for a lot of the game
Powell - it seems wrong having a go as Sir Chris, but he was definitely not up to it yesterday, same as in the 2nd half against Ipswich last week. Maybe not fully fit yet, but I think time is beginning to tell
Sodje - I'm a big fan of Sodje, but today was not one to shout about
Bougherra - he's a tough player but needs to develop more of his game
Ambrose - after finding that he can play inside, we were forced to push him out again. Almost a cliche nowadays, but he will probably always remain an enigma for Charlton fans
Holland - been well up for it in last couple of games but tended to fade in and out for a lot of the game
Zheng - has been getting better and better and still signs that we have a lot more to see of ZZ
Reid - up and down game let's hope his injury is not bad
J Thomas - looked very dangerous against their inexperienced right-back
Iwelumo - scoring a goal whilst injured from a very difficult angle. No need to say more!
McLeod - maybe he just needs confidence but I keep shouting for him to shoot! Albion were doing it all the time
Varney - will he succeed or not. My vote is still out on this one

The main worry has to be the injuries to Big Chris, Reidy and Dazza - could be tough next week with this lot out as well. Key injuries gives Pardew Hull headache.

Ref was not bad this week but he should have a least given Pele a booking for his trip just outside the area on ZZ. Possibly a key, incorrect, decision at the time.

A few newspaper links from Iberian Valley.

Good reports from Chicago Addick , New York Addick - who blames the shorts ;-), and Blackheath Addicted.

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Should be an interesting game Saturday.

We definitely need a result at the Valley and Pards knows it. Hopefully the players will all follow Danny Mills example and be ready for the game with no complacency.

But Iberian Valley has some revealing stats on Burnley's away form.

Basey would appear to be out with an injury so there will definitely be some juggling around. Perhaps we will see the return of Moo2 ... which I would welcome.

May well be that this time we start with 2 strikers.

My prediction, 3-1 to Charlton, scorers Zheng Zhi, Sodje and Varney.

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Great gig by Ian Brown at Brixton last night.

Support were Paul Ryder's (ex-Happy Monkeys) band, Big Arm, who made a good sound.

When Brown entered the stage he immediately launched into a Stone Roses classic 'I wanna be adored' - one of the best starts to a gig I have seen.

Lots of excellent stuff from his solo albums and even brought on Andy Rourke (ex-Smiths bassist) for a few songs.

His band are superb as always, and he has re-mixed a number of songs such as 'My Star' which was much harder and sounded great live.

Two highlights of the evening were an amazing version of 'I am the Resurrection' which got the whole place going crazy and a finale of F.E.A.R. which was brilliant.

Ian Brown has not lost his touch and is still far more classy than anyone else around in the music business.

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What a rubbish referee ... Halsey got it wrong so many times, and was it really a penalty? I couldn't really tell, and the 2nd goal which he seemed to disallow and then allowed ... what was going on there!

And he never booked any of the SheffU players when they got over-physical, yet he booked Danny Mills when it should have been Bryan Robson.

And .....

But what am I talking about, these are all excuses which I am using to find out why we lost. The simple and obvious truth is that we were utter rubbish.

Can you believe we had the chance to go within 2 points of Watford and not only blew it but fell apart.

The crowd played their part and were terrific, but the players ? I don't know what went wrong, and according to the press interviews, nor does Pards!

Basey did fine, and he cannot be blamed for inexperience. Sam was well off his game and deservedly got taken off. Millsy as always got stuck in and no negatives from him.

Reid has been a hero all season, but Pards ... rest him! He looks like he needs a break. Thomas had some good spells as did Zheng although it was unforgivable the way that ZZ missed and shot the ball over the bar when all it needed was a simple tap-in.

We spent too much of the game, especially 2nd half shooting up high balls to Big Chris ... not attractive and it didn't do anything to win us the game.

On to Burnley at the Valley ... can't see them winning 2 away games on the trot but if we play again this way, then they will !

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Well, Jim Davidson's old joke still applies, except these days it's nil goals conceded !

We looked very lively at times and apart from a couple of scares, and despite the pressure from Preston at times, we did not seem likely to concede a goal.

And what is about Charlton and these last minute goals in both halves. If nothing else, this may stop the early leavers! It must be a new ploy to keep fans in their seats ... and it might work!

Nicky Weaver had a terrific game and is fast becoming a favourite of the Charlton faithful ... who would have believed that a while ago!

As for player ratings:
Weaver - as stated above, had a great game ... and I loved his push on the Preston striker late in the game ... Get Out of My Way!!!

Mills - excellent, very important player for us these days

Basey - may be young, but putting in good displays

Fortune - made some important clearances

Sodje - I like having him in the team, got to buy him before other teams notice how good he is

Sam - excellent down the wing, key player these days

Semedo - still often an unsung hero, great at what he does and makes no song and dance about it
Zheng - improves every game, must be going down a storm on Chinese TV

Reid - not his best game, and a few passes went astray but still the right man for captain

Thomas - one of his best games for ages but went a bit quiet in the 2nd half, extremely influential and scared the Preston defenders

Iwelumo - not many teams know how to deal with Big Chris and played a key part in the 2nd goal

Ambrose - not on long enough to decide

Holland- looked useful

Varney - excellent goal

And the fans ... first class. There may not have been many of you but on TV you came across loud and clear ... well done to those who made it up there.

The next few games look very interesting ... the top of the table at Christmas will give a good picture of how this division will pan out, I think we are only now beginning to gell, and yet we are in 2nd place.

As we all predicted, this is an enjoyable season ... and the final result still looks positive.

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What a ridiculous couple of months. I returned from a business trip at the end of September only to find that I could no longer access the internet.

I use NTL (sorry ... Virginmedia) for my broadband access however they informed me that because my internet service provider is AOL I must call them.

Over the course of a couple of weeks I called the AOL help-desk on numerous occasions (each call taking ages due to waiting in a queue) and received more than a dozen reasons why my service no longer worked, none of which of course placed the blame at their end. At one stage I was informed that my PC must be at fault and I should call the manufacturers. I actually called in a local technician to run a diagnostic test and he found nothing wrong with my equipment at all. Based on this information, I called AOL again and was finally told that the modem software must be corrupted and they would send me a disc in the post. It never arrived and I was then informed that it was not their practice to send such software despite the fact that it had been promised.

At this stage, realising that I was going round in circles, I tried another tack and wrote to AOL Complaints department. They responded very quickly and were a refreshing change to the inept performance of their help desks, and stated that all I needed was a new modem which arrived the next day!

However, the problem did not end there. In order to register the modem, Virginmedia had to come into play ... and they proved to be the final barrier. For whatever reason, the registration did not work.

Realising that I faced a hopeless task, and not feeling like starting the whole process again, I cancelled my AOL subscription and got Virginmedia to set me up with their 4Mb broadband service. I can still access my AOL mail, and the bonus is that the new service is lightning fast. Furthermore, AOL have been kind enough to pay for my first years subscription due to the length of time they took to resolve the problem.

So finally I'm back ... I shan't bother giving updates on the games that I missed posting - plenty of others have done that ... just refer to the links on the right.

Also means that I can finally get back on Charlton Life on a more regular basis!

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