Don’t cast aspersions

A quick synopsis for those who missed a soggy episode in Charlton’s history on Saturday.  Charlton were already trailing 3-0 to Doncaster after 20 minutes played in driving rain when play was suspended for half an hour.  The remainder of the first half was played in atrocious conditions with Charlton managing to pull a goal back and Doncaster down to ten men following two yellow cards for Keegan.  The match was then officially abandoned shortly into the second half.

I was too damp and bewildered to do much blogging after the game but issues surrounding referees at the Valley continue to abound (David Webb having to be stretchered off against Peterborough game, the disallowed goal against Colchester to name but two), and this was no exception.  I also wonder if 34 minutes of extra time also counts as a record in the football league?

While such abandonments are quite rare and difficult to handle, I believe all agree with me when I say that the officials didn’t really handle the situation well.  I didn’t get to the ground too early so may have missed it but I don’t believe I saw the referee or match officials once roll a ball on the pitch to test its suitability at any time during the match.  I also wonder what had changed during the half hour suspension to warrant the game continuing.  The water cleared by the ground staff was minimal and the rain continued to pour steadily.

It was clear that the conditions were different in separate parts of the ground with the East stand side and the North stand goal mouth appearing to be particularly affected with standing water.  However, having restarted the game in the second half I thought that the game would be played to a conclusion, after all the rain was down to a light drizzle and nothing else had changed since half time.  So I didn’t believe her when my fellow supporter said that she saw the match day announcer mouth “match abandoned” and it was with incredulity when I heard the official announcement calling the game off. 

I do feel for Paul Dickov and the travelling fans and while I am relieved to see us have another opportunity I didn’t identify with the fans in the North Stand who were hollering out for the game to be abandoned and voicing their delight when they got their wish.  Regardless of the merits of calling off the game we know we were fortunate to have another crack at the whip.

Two further points to note were that Dickov criticised the manner in which the referee handled the events leading up to the abandonment rather than the game being called off itself and fair play to him on that front.  Secondly, while conceding three goals in 22 minutes is extremely poor in anyone’s books, the statistics, otherwise, show a fairly even game.  Doncaster will know that they have goal stopper Ross Turnbull to thank for keeping them ahead with some amazing saves from great Charlton efforts.

I spent the rest of the weekend at the Real Food Festival (www.realfoodfestival.co.uk) on the South Bank.  The quality of local fare combined with craft beer from London brewers has made me think about the the food offering at the Valley but more on this later in the week.

Tonight we are away to Huddersfield in the Capital One Cup.  This is always a difficult fixture and I’m not looking forward to it.  It’s one of those awkward games in which no-one else outside of the two teams will pay much attention to, with the winner coming away with little to show for.  Powell has a dilemma in choosing his starting line up.  Does he go for a wholesale change in the team as he has always done in the competition, or does he continue with his normal match day squad to get some much needed cohesion between the players?  I suspect he’ll go for a wholesale change to the strike force as before but will try out some different pairings in defence to find the right combination to protect the goal mouth.  With Huddersfield putting five goals past Bournemouth at the weekend I have a feeling we’ll need it.