Saturday 23 April 2016

The story was about the protests

Charlton lost 1-3 at home to Brighton and Hove Albion, but the story was really about the protests by dissatisfied customers that halted the game and led to eight minutes being added on.

Following pre-match protests the game was halted after just 30 seconds as Charlton supporters threw balloons and beach balls onto the pitch in protest at Roland Duchatelet's ownership of the club. Similar protests occurred at the start of the second half, while the game was also halted for a short time in the 89th minute after a flare was thrown onto the field.

The Seagulls took an early lead through Sam Baldock as he tapped in a pass form Connor Goldson. Johann Berg Gudmundsson levelled for Charlton soon after the restart. However, Brighton took all three points as Jiri Skalak fired in and Tomer Hemed added a late penalty.

Good luck to Brighton in their promotion push, I hope they go up.

With Chris Powell as one of the commentators, Charlton were given extensive coverage on the Football League Show tonight with the programme closing with a montage of the protests. Katrien Meire was shown more than once wearing her 'wasp in the mouth' expression.

As usual, Chris gave an articulate expression of his sympathy, referring to the way in which the trust of supporters had been destroyed. Charlton had momentum, but in the wrong direction. It would be a long, hard road back.

15 Charlton fans have travelled to Belgium tonight to take the protests there.

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