Charlton Athletic 1 Rochdale 1

Even standing on the sidelines here I could see that there were so many players out of position last night, the game was already flawed before it even started. I have to think that Solly pulled out sick so close to kick off that Andy Hughes was sat at home with a cuppa in front of The Brits.

Mind you earlier in the day on Twitter Cedric Evina hinted that he might feature, so maybe it was known for some time that Solly was a doubt.

Powell talks of balance but with right footed Green on the left, left footed Wiggins on the right and the central midfielder Pritchard in right midfield the side was as balanced as a one legged tightrope walker.

Powell broke his own golden rule of making as few as changes as possible last night and not for the first time it came back to bite him. 

I said yesterday that there has to be a lot of hunger among those not playing but the lack of reserve team football and the rare behind closed doors friendly is really hindering I think Powell making wholesale changes. Evina, I like, and he would have been better suited to have played left midfield with Wiggins behind him, but I think expecting players to come in and be brilliant in one game is asking a lot.

Wagstaff has been widely condemned by observers I trust and I think he may have come to the end of The Valley road. One of problems from what I have listened to and seen is that crosses to Kermie begin at the halfway line, and not far enough up the pitch to maximise the Frenchman’s heading ability in the box. Waggy is not going to improve this, but Green has to.

I trust in Powell but I would look at those team sheets when we were scoring and creating. Hughes, Russell and Hayes are still very important parts of the promotion jigsaw.

We are owed a bad run and I am hoping this is it because we are grinding the points out but it sounds frustrating and edgy. Powell has a problem, we should not be sailing to promotion we need to push down the throttle.

Anyway, enough of this listening nervously to the poxy radio. Last night I booked my flight and I will be at the Bournemouth and Colchester games. Come on you reds!

Addick Bloggers at The Valley: New York Addick; Doctor Kish; Charlton Casual; Drinking During the Game;
Powell-ometer: He got it wrong last night, but he was no doubt hampered by Solly’s late drop out. Powell tells us we have acheived nothing yet, very true and now this is a real test of his mettle.
Elsewhere: MK Dons beat Bury at home 2-1 and Walsall climbed out of the relegation zone beating Scunthorpe away 1-0.