Charlton beat league leaders

Charlton beat Norwich 1-0 at Carrow Road tonight through a captain's goal by Johnnie Jackson on 86 minutes. It was a deflected shot from 25 yards out.

The Addicks were under the cosh for much of the match, with possession 61-39 in Norwich's favour, but rallied in the last ten minutes. They then had to hang on through over five minutes of time added on.

Norwich put the ball in the net for the first half, but the goal was disallowed for a foul on Henderson. In the second half Norwich had a penalty shout but it was judged to be ball to Bikey's arm.

Henderson made some great saves. He was first called into action on three minutes when he had to make a smart near post save to deny Lewis Grabban. Vetokele tested Ruddy in the first half with a low drive.

On 68 minutes Redmond forced Henderson into a parry, Hoolahan picked up the rebound and Wiggins had to clear off the line.

Ben Haim was stalwart in defence. Gomez had a great game, but had to go off after picking up an injury, hopefully nothing too serious. Ahearne-Grant came on as a substitute to make his debut and looked lively.

Charlton are now 7th in the table, but have the same number of points as Wolves and Ipswich and are only one point behind Derby in fourth place and are only two points off the top spot. It was the first away win of the season for the Addicks who remain unbeaten.

A complaint has been lodged with Norfolk Police that a smash and grab raid took place on Carrow Road last night involving eleven men dressed in red shirts and directed by a Belgian master mind. It is also alleged that they were aided and abetted by a man in black, but this has been denied on the grounds that he was too busy issuing cautions to the raiders.'

Derek from Dymchurch says, 'I came up from campaigning in Clacton expecting to see that Belgian geezer get his come uppance. But you've got to hand it to him, he has a way of pulling victory from the jaws of defeat. It's a long time since we had such a lucky manager.'

However, Voice of the Valley editor Rick Everitt commented on Twitter, 'This is what is called earning your luck.'

Norwich manager confident he can cope with Charlton

Neil Adams, manager of table topping Norwich City, admits that they are there to be shot down but is confident he can cope with 'whatever' game plan Bob Peeters comes up with for Tuesday night: Canaries

The odds favour the Canaries: Norwich 1/2, Draw 13/5, Charlton 9/2. However, we have drawn our last two away games with Norwich at this level and won the two before that, which admittedly takes us back into the 1990s.

Norwich are unbeaten at home this season, while the Addicks have drawn all their away matches. This probably means it won't be a draw.

Charlton remain unbeaten draw specialists

Whilst it was no bore draw, there seems to have been more excitement at the Charlton Moscow game

Charlton remain the unbeaten draw specialists of the Championship following today's 0-0 draw at The Valley with Middlesbrough. The Addicks remain 8th in the table.

The game started with both teams taking a cagey approach to each other. However, Charlton seemed hesitant and had difficulty retaining the ball and Boro had the better of the game. It has to be said that Boro had a good defence that was difficult to penetrate.

The injury to Gudmundsson just before half time was a blow, as he had been one of the livelier players, but the arrival of Moussa as substitute after the break seemed to add some sparkle to Charlton's performance. Bulot managed to hit the post for the Addicks.

However, their best play came in the closing ten minutes or so after Boro charm merchant Admomoah had been sent off for a high foot, earning a second yellow card. Charlton pressed for a winner and substitute Lawrie Wilson drew a save from the keeper. From the resultant corner, George Tucudean's header was cleared off the line.

Possession was 54-46 in Charlton's favour, but each side had only one shot on target.

There was a curious incident at the end of the game when a fan ran the length of the pitch with what appeared to be the corner flag. He tried to join his fellow Boro fans, but was caught and hauled away by security. It has been suggested that he might have consumed an illegal substance.

Match analysis

My man of the match was Chris Solly. Tireless in tracking back and going forward, he showed real precision in his passing. Henderson didn't really have a lot to do, the header going just wide from a corner when they should have scored. However, once again he looked in command of his area, although his kicking out is a bit like that of Deano's. I thought that Ben Haim had an excellent game, some really good interventions. Bikey attracted the ire of the Boro supporters after a collision with one of their players, but their boos when he got the ball were drowned out by Charlton cheers. Interesting that he was positioned up front at the end of the match. Wiggins had a better game than of late.

Buyens was a disappointment, he was very one paced. Jackson really lacks pace and was eventually substituted. Cousins was more effective once he was moved into the middle after Jackson went off, he then contributed to a better last twenty minutes. Gudmundsson made some good runs before he was injured, it didn't look good.

Bulot looks very promising. Vitokele was energetic, but sometimes got muscled off the ball. Moussa was quite effective when he came on. Wilson livened things up with his appearance. Tucudean looked better coming on as a substitute.

I thought that the referee was over fussy, e.g., getting Henderson to move a free kick back a couple of yards. He was also inconsistent, penalising an offence then doing nothing about the same offence a few minutes later. The Bloke Behind Me kept up a stream of grumbling throughout the match.

Derek from Dymchurch has been at the UKIP conference in Doncaster.

Some fans have asked me, 'Is it possible to support Charlton without being exposed to Acworth? I am afraid that the answer is "No". Acworth is on of the downsides of being an Addick. The only way I can stop him clogging him up my comment columns is by stopping comments altogether and I don't want to do that. I have encouraged Acworth to set up his own blog for his insights.

Bring on the Boro

After their penalty shoot out marathon at Liverpool on Tuesday, Middlesbrough are looking to win their fourth game in a row and end Charlton's unbeaten run tomorrow: Boro

Addicks captain Johnnie Jackson is worried about Charlton's tendency to invite pressure on to themselves in the second half. Charlton have scored only one second half goal in five matches. This perhaps suggests that there are issues about fitness, along Bob Peeters is not slow to make substitutions when he thinks they are needed.

Last season we lost 0-1 at home to Boro and the season before 1-4.Middlesbrough are unbeaten in the last eight meetings in all competitions, winning six. Charlton's last win was 2-1 at The Valley in the Premier League in March 2006. Middlesbrough are unbeaten in the last four meetings at The Valley in all competitions, winning the last three. Odds are: Charlton 13/5, Draw 9/4, Middlesbrough 6/5.

With a presenter pulling out at the last minute I was on BBC Coventry & Warwickshire from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. this morning and managed to mention Charlton a couple of times.

Rick Everitt's gnomes and elves will be selling the latest Voice of the Valley outside the ground before the game: Pringle Special

Trustworthy

I think the CAS Trust is doing a good job given the constraints they face, but it is evident from conversations that some supporters are still suspicious of them. It is difficult to see what alternative representative structure there is or might be. I suppose some fans might say they don't want to be represented by anyone, but then it is difficult to see how the club can have any kind of dialogue with fans.

Some of the difficulties that can arise in that relationship are evident in Richard Murray's remarks at the Trust annual general meeting which can be read here: Richard Murray

The latest Trust News was also very good value, particularly considering it was given out free! I particularly enjoyed the article on how the Second World War affected the club.

The interview with Katrien Meire was also very interesting, not surprising that she came across as charming but steely. It was interesting to learn that she had approached Roland about a job, given her love of football, and that he had already certain her a number of e-mails on the day of the interview, which shows that he is very 'hands on'.

Interesting also that she is a competition law specialist, an area of law that has particular relevance for football and has brought about many changes in the game, e.g., the Bosman decision. However, given that, I am a little surprised that she and Roland place so much faith in financial fair play delivering a more level playing field for clubs like Charlton.

I am not a lawyer, let alone a sports lawyer, but I have talked to a number of them and read some of their papers and they are doubtful whether the Uefa scheme as drafted is compatible with European Union law, and by extension whether the Football League scheme has also has a sound legal basis. QPR may, of course, mount a court challenge, but one could also be initiated by a player, as in the case of Bosman.

Draw specialists

Charlton got their fifth draw of the season with a 1-1 at Rotherham today, having led 1-0 through a Gudmundsson goal on 27 minutes at half time. The Addicks have dropped out of the play off places to seventh.

Charlton took the lead when Gudmundsson cut in from the right and curled a shot low into the far corner, with a deflection off the foot of Rotherham midfielder Paul Green taking the ball wide of Loach's dive.

Rotherham's equaliser came as Becchio headed in a cross from fellow substitute Ben Pringle after 69 minutes.

Both sides had chances to snatch all three points in the closing minutes. Scott Loach saved smartly on the line from Frederic Bulot before Joe Skarz's close-range header was tipped round a post by Henderson.

Possession was 53-47 in favour of the home side and they had six shots on target to Charlton's four.

Derek from Dymchurch says, 'We can't keep sitting back when we have a lead and inviting on pressure. And we have to stop making defensive errors. We should have beaten Rotherham. We've stuttered along but, mark my words, our bad run starts next Saturday.'

'We're not going down 0-3 to Charlton by half time'

Rotherham United manager Steve Evans, who presided over two promotions with Crawley, has has pledged that his 19th place side will not go down 0-3 to Charlton by half time at the New York stadium today. Evans says that there will be none of the gung ho attacking style that characterised the team last season. Instead, the new team bus will be parked in front of the goal. One can expect them to adopt a physical approach and it will be interesting to see how the Addicks cope with that.

Glaswegian Evans is a somewhat controversial figure having been banned for using abusive language and convicted for his part in a tax scam. However, his sides are hard to beat.

Rotherham striker Jordan Bowery came off the substitutes' bench to score in their last two matches and is pushing for a starting place. Igor Vetokele suffered an arm injury against Wolves but is expected to be fit for selection. Gudmundsson (groin) and Chris Solly (knee) could return after overcoming their respective injury problems. Former Addick Richard Wood is not available after knee surgery.

The Millers have lost their last two home games and last won at Millwall on August 23rd. The last meeting between the two clubs was in 1983 when Rotherham won 1-0 at their old ground by a scrap yard, but current chairman Tony Stewart does not lack ambition.

Odds are Millers 11/10, draw 23/10, Charlton 5/2. The referee is the dread Darren Deadman.

Derek from Dymchurch writes, 'This will be the game when the wheels come off and Peeters is found out.' I am going for a 2-2 draw.