Charlton 0 - 1 Walsall

Well, it was hardly pleasant watching was it?

What is most strange is that had we won this game 1-0 against a poor side, that clearly wanted it more than us, we would have congratulated ourselves on 'Just beating what's put in front of you'.

When you think that we finished just two points short of automatic promotion last season it is painful to see us lose a game that we so clearly could have won. I'm not going to say 'should' have won as we shouldn't, but we may well come to really rue those three dropped points in May.

I don't want to be disrespectful to Walsall because they played the more adventurous football, and deserved their win based on the 90 minutes, but we were a little clueless and just looked tired and/or believed that all we needed to do was turn up and the game was won.

Hopefully, if it's the latter it is a mistake that we will not make again. Maybe it would be best if we could lose at Brentford on Tuesday and then play our U18 side at Spurs so that the players can concentrate on the promotion that the club so desperately needs?

Again let me say that is with full expect to Walsall, but they are tailed off at the bottom of the division for a reason. We ought not face an easier home fixture this season, apart from Luton that we only drew, and Barnet, that we won 1-0, but you get my point.

We have looked like a blessed side on a few occasions this season.
We shouldn't have beaten Notts County (we should have lost) and we were probably a little lucky against MK Dons. We were also a bit fortunate to get back into it against Yeovil with ten men. On that basis we must have known that we either needed to raise our game, continue to be incredibly lucky, or lose a game we would, otherwise, have expected to win.

In all honesty I'm more than happy to continue to win games against the run of play and I'm more that happy to be promoted at the end of the season with a string of 'lucky' results. My worry is that old saying 'class is permanent, form is temporary'.

Parkinson got us close last season, and he got Colchester promoted from this division. Maybe the way you it is to play average to rubbish football and just keep winning games you deserve to lose. If that's a winning formula then I'll have some. If not then at some point we are going to have to start looking like we can actually play a bit at home. Otherwise the crowds will fall and in all likelihood we will be stuck in the god awful division for at least another season.

Up the Addicks!