Leyton Orient 1 Charlton Athletic 0
On the last day of the year we fell flat on our faces in front of the Sky cameras after referee Whitestone decided he wanted to be the star of the show with just a couple of minutes on the clock.
Nonetheless whether Ben Hamer prevented a certain goal or not with his hand he had no reason to be that far out of his box with five minutes on the clock and with only Dave Mooney his opponent. Mooney showed later when he missed a sitter why he frustrated so many Charlton fans.
I reckon we all cringed when we saw Orient’s starting XI with four ex-Addicks in their line-up. We have all read that script before and it was left to Matt Spring to get the winner with a deflected goal (as was Stevenage’s) although I am more inclined to blame some pussy-footing defending before Spring even got his shot away.
Mind you Hamer’s replacement, John Sullivan was a little too far of his line and was perhaps understandably unprepared and flapped at a couple of crosses but did make a fine save from Mooney.
Orient took the game to us and pushed their full backs into attacking areas and despite being on the end of a succession of bad referee calls, the O’s impressive Jimmy Smith did have a valid goal scrubbed out just before half-time for offside.
We looked like we were two players down, so outplayed were we after Hamer’s dismissal but the 2nd half was much better from Charlton and I was sat on the sofa asking for just one chance because I thought we could grab one. However until the introduction of Pritchard we badly lacked pace in the middle of the park, and I was getting frustrated with Darel Russell who just did not do enough for me.
I called Waggy as the man to be replaced but as Christian Dailly said at half-time Jackson would have been the more sensible substitution.
As the half progressed you could see what our game plan was as we kept the deficit to one and then in the last 10 minutes we threw everything at them to try to grab a brave equaliser.
It wasn’t to be but I couldn’t knock the team’s commitment or spirit and we move into the New Year still in a very enviable position. Let’s move on, halfway there, 23 games to go. I’ll be there tomorrow.
Addick Bloggers at the Barry Hearn Arena: Drinking During the Game; Doctor Kish; Addicks Third Division Diary; Charlton Casual.
Powell-ometer: In hindsight Wagstaff would have added vital pace and fitness and should have been spared with the probably not match fit Jackson replaced. Powell did have a definite plan in the 2nd half that almost paid off.
Elsewhere: Less than a week ago the gap was 8 and now its four after Sheffield United won their 8 game in a row beating Hartlepool 3-1. Wednesday won at Deepdale 2-0 but Monday’s opponents Brentford came back from 3-down at home to MKD to claim an injury time draw. Charlton target Leon Legge the scorer. Stevenage extended their unbeaten run to 13 matches winning at Wycombe, Huddersfield drew the day before at home to Carlisle and Oldham came from behind three times to beat Notts County, who are now 10th.
