Charlton Athletic 0 Nottingham Forest 2

“It was hard enough when it was 11 versus 11.”

Another home defeat on a pudding of a pitch. By all accounts we were never in it and for the second time this season Forest were simply too good for us.

The general opinion was that the referee and his assistant had a shocker sending off our Gallic prince but in truth after his heroics on Tuesday night Yann went from hero to zero and lost his rag and kicked out at a provocative Greg Halford to make an already difficult task impossible.

That was in the 37th minute but by then we were already chasing shadows and Billy Davies’ Forest had their tales up with Andy Reid as conductor and once Majewski scored early in the 2nd half it was a case of how many, just like it was at the City Ground in September.

Fortunately Forest took their foot of the gas but there was to be no attempt at a fightback, which at least we saw in the away game. Looking at how the top sides are falling over themselves it would not surprise me at all if Forest charged into the play-off’s and conceivably the automatics.

As for us, being a season-ticket holder has been burdensome this season and unless Powell can somehow instil some form of imagination and invention into our play for the remaining 6 games at The Valley, we are on course for the worst home season for over a couple of decades (we did win only 4 at home in 1998/99 but we were in the Premier League).

Trying to think of a positive to end with, and to underline how Powell sets us up, in the two games against Forest we have been well and truly outclassed, but they are the only team I can think of that have done that.

Anyway I will be joining the hopeful and the hapless at The Valley next Saturday.

Addick Bloggers at The Valley: Drinking During the Game A welcome back to Charlton Casualty; Albury Addick; Deepest Darkest; At the End of the Day; From The Hill to The Valley; God, Charlton and Punk Rock; Stickleback; Blackheath Addick; Addicks Championship Diary; Ramblings of a Football Fan.
Powell-ometer: Our away and home form are like light and day and understanding that we have a system and players that are more effective on the road, our Valley form this season is unacceptable.
Elsewhere: Watford moved 2nd after beating Derby 2-1 as Hull were surprisingly thrashed at Bolton. The Tigers were 3-down after just 8 minutes. Leicester drew at Blackpool, Brighton beat Burnley and Palace lost at Wednesday. Millwall won for the first time in 6 games at an horribly out of form Middlesbrough, Blackburn and Leeds was goalless as was Huddersfield and Ipswich. Bristol City beat Barnsley 5-3 in the game of the day and Birmingham won at Peterborough to once again show how topsy-turvy this league is.