Coventry City 2 Charlton Athletic 1

Coventry completed the double over us today after we delivered a half-hearted, leggy Boxing Day display at the Ricoh Arena. Too much Christmas pud they used to say, and those witness said we were well below par in every position.

We shouldn’t get too low. Our recent form has propelled us from 13th to 4th in 11 games and defeats are going to happen. Nonetheless undeserved it may have a been, but a point would have been nice to keep us on Sunderland’s tails. Having said that, Luton are on fire and Pompey are still top despite winning one in four but are a clear 8 points ahead of us.

We were a lot better 2nd half after Bowyer switched to two wingers, Pratley equalized but like at Blackpool we got undone in the last minute.

More worrying though is the broken record of injuries and our paper thin squad. Aribo missed today and according the Bowyer his absence could be lengthy. Of course with the Rat rubbing his hands and drooling at the mouth, Aribo’s absence might be permanent. Our bench, Marshall aside, again was mostly full of not-ready kids although Grant was on it and replaced a thoroughly ineffective Ajose at the half.

That bench is pretty much all we have. JFC, Cullen, Clarke, Ward, Aribo plus Lapslie, who got another bang on the head are all out with no signs of quick returns. Add Page, Vetokele and Sarr who is suspended. That’s 9. Barnsley will be tough Saturday as Bowyer and Jacko again attempt to squeeze every ounce of commitment and character out of what they have.

Addicks at The Ricoh: Addicks Third Division Diary;
Bow: “We don’t have people to bring in and we’re down to bare bones. We’ve got kids on the bench, left, right and centre with just Mark Marshall as the only senior one.”I
Elsewhere: Luton are unstoppable at the moment. The Hatters won at struggling Scunthorpe. Gillingham completed the double over Portsmouth winning 2-0 in the early game. Sunderland beat Bradford 1-0 in front of 46,000 at the Stadium of Light and Barnsley beat Peterborough 2-0 and Fleetwood thrashed Doncaster 3-0.
Photo: @K_AndrewsPhotos