I've long since come to the conclusion that some people simply prefer to moan. Despite Charlton's clinical attacking play and upbeat, energetic performance on Saturday, The Bloke Behind Me midway through the second half rather angrily suggested that "we were lucky to be winning this game. Carlisle have played the ball around far better than we have". We was 4-0 up at the time, and for once, looked as comfortable as I can remember for some time at The Valley. It's hard to imagine what more he could have expected, but thankfully, for this week at least, he would have been an isolated figure amongst the doom and gloom merchants who seem determined to dwell on the negatives. On this show at least, the wheels are still stuck on and spinning quite nicely.
Carlisle approach to the game in terms of formation and counter-attacking playing style was just what Charlton needed to face at this time. On another day, Carlisle clearly have enough about them to trouble any opposition and I applaud the fact they clearly never intended to 'park the bus' as many teams will at the Valley this season. They were confident of getting a result beforehand and you could see flashes of why they would have felt that way. Their away form has been impressive and they have some very able players. Granted, their defence certainly had an off day, but I take the view that this was as a result of Charlton's powerful forward play and pressure (for the first 45 at least) rather than their own failings. All this serves only to give the scoreline greater resonance, in my opinion. I suspect we may well have taken the foot off the peddle towards the end, but I have no great issues with this given that we have a couple of tricky away fixtures coming up this week.
Despite reservations regarding the lack of creative edge in Stephens absence (his missus had a baby the night before), we produced chance after chance. Andy Hughes done an excellent job as Stephens replacement, and although a completely different player, his energy and combative nature gave us an edge in midfield and I'd make him my Man of the Match for impact alone, narrowly beating Wiggins, who is growing ever more impressive as the games go on. Like everyone else, I was pleased to see young Solly back in the team. If it had been down to me, I'd have have bought back Hayes for Kermorgant, but Powell's faith in the latter proved correct as asides from his excellent brace, Kermie's partnership with BWP took a massive leap forward, in my opinion. Clearly evidence that relationships take time to gel. I was surprised to see that Kermogant is noted as just over 6ft tall on Wikipedia. His standing leap and general heading abilities are impressive, although he doesn't appear to be particularly big to me.
The only downside to my day was the painful aching in my belly that kicked in around half time. Normally, such issues are caused by anxiety from watching Charlton, but this this time the culprit was not related to matters on the pitch, but rather a Chicken & Leak pasty I bought at the wonderful Borough Market earlier that morning. It clearly didn't agree with me.
At present, my working week is opening up quite nicely to allow me to attend tomorrow night's trip to Adams Park. Last time we was there a late goal from Nicky Bailey sealed a 2-1 victory, and the relatively short distance home seemed to fly by. Let's hope for much the same on Tuesday night.
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