11 Dickov’s

Charlton Athletic 1 Oldham Athletic 1
Tough game yesterday. Oldham played like they were a team of Paul Dickov’s by all accounts and five minutes added on time belied the amount of time-wasting and ineffectual refereeing there was.

I was encouraged by the home support in those final minutes though, an apparent recognition that the team never laid down and that we should no longer expect to role over every team we play. Parky claimed that Oldham were easily the best team we have played and the Latics could well end up being last season’s Colchester United, in the first half of the season at least.

Bournemouth’s burst of goals, even without Blackpool-bound Brett Pitman yesterday) and Orient’s point at Southampton showed that our two victories were not against relegation fodder. I fancy Orient to have a good season and Eddie Howe is too good a manager for the Cherries to struggle amongst the likes of the Tranny-meres.

Despite Huddersfield’s disintegration yesterday at Peterborough, next week will be our toughest test yet and we will need to pass the ball better using pace to break as we did at the O’s. Hopefully we will have at least one new face on the team bus along with the returning Semedo and Dailly.

Addicks at The Valley: Charlton Casual; Drinking During the Game; Blackheath Addicted; Addicks Diary; Stickleback; New York Addick;
CA fact: Our lowest home crowd since January but still 366 more than there was at Wigan v Chelsea.