Charlton 0 Burnley 3 (Vokes 20, Boyd 49, Gray 51).

Kevin Nolan reports from The Valley.

Before departing the Championship in diametrically opposite directions, these sides paused long enough to provide reasonably diverting end-of-season entertainment. The reason was, of course, unpleasantly familiar to doomed Charlton, on the short end of their eighth 3-0 drubbing of this miserable season.

Having been officially relegated at Bolton on April 19th, the Addicks might have chosen to go through the motions in three games since their fate was sealed. To their credit, they gave play-offs bound Brighton a decent game, surprised Leeds United at Elland Road last week, then closed out their ill-fated campaign by matching worthy titlewinners Burnley in most of the footballing virtues except, significantly, the art of finishing. A two-minute, two-goal salvo bust by the buoyant visitors early in the second half put paid to their hopes of signing off with a flourish. But they tried. At least give them that.

Confirmed as champions by virtue of Middlesbrough’s concurrent 1-1 draw with Brighton, the Clarets remained impressively focussed throughout an awkward, tempestuous afternoon. Their worst fear of a prematurely abandoned game hung over them but they stuck to their task. Even the occasional flare tossed on to the pitch failed to ruffle their concentration as they cruised into the Premier League.

The unstinting support of the visiting fans,who filled the Jimmy Seed Stand and spilled over into neighbouring East Stand, for the regular outbursts of protest against the disastrous Duchatelet regime did much to defuse an incendiary situation. It turns out that Burnley are owned by a local businessman, whose heart and soul are rooted in his beloved, local club. Likewise, a familiar-looking matchday squad, featuring 17 British-born players, supplied the venerable Lancashire club an appearance of stability and commitment. When the chips were down their togetherness pulled them through.

Not that such comments should be interpreted as a Little Englander rant. Nothing wrong with gifted imports strutting their stuff, infusing our domestic game with exotic nuances. They enrich the domestic scene. And when the balance is right, there’s the basis of a successful side.

It’s been a pleasure, for instance, to watch Johann Berg Gudmundsson in action over the last two seasons. Appreciating his technique as he receives a pass while gracefully pirouetting into space has been nothing short of an education. On the end of unfair criticism for “not trying”, the gifted Icelandic stylist has answered his detractors with 11 assists and 6 goals in a team which has managed only 9 wins and 40 goals all season. In other words, he has been directly involved in almost half of Charlton’s goals. Despite international commitments he has also made 39 league starts, only one short of Morgan Fox’s leading total of 40. Imagine what he might have accomplished had he been persuaded to try.

Gudmundsson was at the heart of Charlton’s bright start. His intuitive understanding with the precocious Ademola Lookman posed the no-nonsense visiting defence problems, their link-up play setting up Jordan Cousins to slice high over Tom Heaton’s bar. Gudmundsson’s perceptive pass then created a fleeting opportunity for Lookman, whose goalbound shot was deflected for a corner. At the other end, Matt Lowton’s ball into Scott Arfield’s feet was astutely flicked on to Sam Vokes but blasted wildly over the top. Prolific scorer Andre Gray should also have done better than shoot into the sidenet from Joey Barton’s pass. But the champions were not kept waiting long to take the lead.

A more than useful player when his mind is on the job, Barton kept his side ticking over. He started the incisive move which saw Stephen Ward exchange lightning-quick passes with George Boyd before crossing low for Vokes to finish simply at the far post.

Before the interval, Gudmundsson and Lookman combined to fashion Charlton’s best chance. Gudmundsson’s pass sent Lookman away to cut back a perfect ball for Callum Harriott. From the penalty spot, Harriott’s weak effort hardly troubled Heaton, whose best save of the first half turned Gudmundsson’s powerful daisycutter away to safety.

Within six minutes of the second period, Burnley’s league title was rubberstamped by two further goals. The first was laid on by Ward, whose hard cross from the left was missed by Gray but made its way to Boyd beyond the far post. A sure first touch made Boyd’s close range finish simple. The Addicks were still reeling when Dean Marney’s long ball over the top was chased down by Gray and squeezed home from a tight angle between Nick Pope’s legs.

At which point, a discreet veil is drawn over Charlton’s disastrous 2015-16 season, one which saw three different managers, the last of whom -Jose Riga- jumped before he was pushed in the immediate aftermath of defeat by Burnley. There’s nothing more to be said about the ruin made by Duchatelet of a proud football club, except to grudgingly acknowledge that it was accomplished with all the ruthless efficiency once brought by Henry V111 to the dissolution of the monasteries. And with the same degree of contempt and lack of respect.

Charlton: Pope, Fanni, Teixeira, Diarra, Fox, Harriott (Suk-Young 83), Kashi (Ba 88), Cousins, Gudmundsson (Jackson 66), Vetokele, Lookman. Not used: Mitov, Sarr, Makienok, Motta.

Burnley: Heaton, Lowton, Keane (Duff 85), Mee, Gray, Marney, Barton, Boyd, Ward, Arfield (Dyer 71), Vokes (Barnes 64). Not used: Robinson, Jones, Taylor, Tarkowski.

Referee: Roger East.

Att: 16,199.

N.B. God loves a trier. And nobody was more trying than some of the security zealots at The Valley yesterday. They also flirted with illegality in their violent Canute-like struggle to control a steady trickle of immigrants from the home stands. But the overall impression they left behind them was one of almost comical ineptitude…behind them being a particularly apposite phrase.

It was hardly a feat of staggering prescience to anticipate that the fans who sold out the Jimmy Seed Stand would have something to celebrate at the final whistle and that, in football’s fine old tradition, they intended to invade the premises to do just that. So as our Orgreave-inspired zealots battled away with their backs turned, Burnley’s happy wanderers amiably ambled on from the other end to join forces with their home brethren in saluting their triumphant heroes and joining in the local anti-Duchatelet protest. In no time at all the pitch was flooded with cavorting peacemakers. It was the 1915 Christmas Truce all over again and a shot in the arm to see authority reduced to figures of fun. The people united… will never be defeated!

Leeds United 1 (Bamba 71) Charlton 2 (Gudmundsson 39, Lookman 49).

Kevin Nolan reports from Elland Road.

It was surely a mischievous quirk of the fixture list that sent Charlton to visit Leeds United on the penultimate weekend of a deeply troubling season. They were greeted in West Yorkshire by a fellow basket case of a football club, also fallen from grace, grateful for mid-table mediocrity and using their doomed visitors as a warning of what happens when your grasp exceeds your reach. Not that United, under the chaotic ownership of Massimo Cellino, are about to listen to warnings.

Motormouth Cellino staggers from one legal crisis to another, always sailing close to the wind aboard a yacht in which the Italian authorities maintain a keen financial interest. Life at Elland Road is described in their own programme notes as a story of “protest, unrest and legal issues”, at the centre of which is their belligerent Chairman. They broke the mould when they made Massino Cellino… just in case.

Taciturn Roland Duchatelet, on the other hand, has rarely a word to say about the mess he has made of Charlton. His first important executive decision in 2014, involving the ruthless sacking of Chris Powell, set in motion the train of events which has led to an ignominious, bitterly resented return to League One, the division from which Powell had led the Addicks so spectacularly in 2012. Hunkered down in his Brussels bunker, Charlton’s absentee owner leaves his beleaguered CEO Katrien Miere to field the flak. The know-all owners of Leeds United and Charlton have nothing and everything in common. Sorry is not merely the hardest word for them to say – they choke on their cornflakes when anyone so much as suggests they use it.

Anyway, as my Mum used to say, bad cess to the both of them. For this reporter, it’s always about the football. And, oddly enough, with no discernible pressure on them, these relaxed sides served up a surprisingly open, entertaining game. It was no surprise, either, that Charlton, unbeaten at Elland Road since 2000, survived a late battering to emerge as worthy winners.

You’d be wrong in assuming that the result of this ostensibly meaningless match didn’t matter. United’s manic quest for a second goal to extend a four-game unbeaten run belied that assumption, while their classy visitors left behind them the impression that they’d realised too late they were far from one of the Championship’s worst three teams. Unfortunately, the table proves otherwise.

The long awaited return of Ahmed Kashi showed what the Addicks had missed during the French Algerian’s long absence. Covering, tackling and inevitably picking the correct pass, Kashi was superb, as was Nick Pope behind him, whose string of assorted saves edged his colleague to man-of-the-match honours. Goalscorers Johann Berg Gudmundsson, almost certain to leave in the summer, and Ademola Lookman, still three months from his 18th birthday, also ran Pope close. Lookman would be advised to continue his promise locally before trying out deeper waters.

Gudmundsson served early notice of his left-footed shooting prowess with a cracking 30-yard drive which beat Marco Sivestri all ends up but rebounded harmlessly off the base of the right post.

Six minutes before the break, the graceful playmaker put the record straight by firing his buoyant side into the lead. He arrived at the near post to finish an incisive move which flowed through Johnnie Jackson to Lookman, then on to the aggressively overlapping Morgan Fox. The left back’s perfect cross picked out Gudmundsson who gave Silvestri no chance.

During an even first half, Pope had begun his heroics by leaving his line alertly to narrow Luke Murphy’s angle and blocking the clean through midfielder’s close range effort with his legs. Before the Addicks headed south with the points, the brilliant young keeper repeated the feat twice to similarly deny substitute Marco Antenucci and Chris Wood in one-on-one confrontation, while the bravery he showed in diving full length to head clear from Wood outside his penalty area was exemplary. When the decks are cleared before next season, Pope must be among the first names on the new teamsheet.

Pope’s excellence prepared the ground for Lookman to double the lead four minutes after the break. Jinking in from the left, a series of deceptive feints made space for a crisp right-footed drive into the bottom left corner. He’s a talented kid as Duchatelet, from the safety of his counting house, is no doubt already evaluating.

Shortly after Lookman struck, Charlton rode their luck as Charlie Taylor’s sumptuous cross was cleverly headed against the underside of the bar by Wood, with Sol Bamba blasting the rebound into the sidenet. The Londoners were living nervously and eventually succumbed with 20 minutes remaining. A weary foul by Kashi on Taylor earned the holding midfielder a booking and allowed substitute Alex Mowatt to place a lethally outswinging free kick on Bamba’s head. Even the inspired Pope could do nothing to prevent the huge centre back’s unstoppable header from reducing United’s arrears.

Defending as though their Championship survival depended on it, with substitute Simon Makienok a tower of strength in the air, the Addicks were pinned back by the ferocity of the resultant onslaught. But whenever their resistance crumbled, there was always Pope to get past. An instinctive reaction at his near post to stop Antenucci’s point-blank blockbuster almost paled into insignificance alongside the marvellously athletic, mid-air save he produced in added time to touch Mowatt’s top-corner bound drive over the bar. The joy and relief among players and fans at referee Hill’s final whistle was almost touching and told us that this battered old football club is still very much alive. That’s the message we brought back from Leeds and is one worth passing on to Brussels. We’ll still be around when you’re gone, pal. Don’t let us keep you.
Leeds: Silvestri, Coyle, Bamba, Cooper, Taylor, Bridcutt (Antenucci 66), Murphy (Diagouraga 75), Botaka, Cook, Dallas (Mowatt 50), Wood. Not used: Wootton, Erwin, Phillips, Peacock-Farrell.

Charlton: Pope, Fanni, Diarra, Teixeira, Fox, Harriott, Kashi, Jackson, Lookman (Ba 89), Gudmundsson (Suk-Young 72), Vetokele (Makienok 82). Not used: Mitov, Sarr, Lennon, Motta. Booked: Diarra, Kashi.

Referee: Keith Hill. Att: 25,458.

“And you’ll start crying…96 tears.” This report is dedicated with a sense of joy to the Hillsborough families. God bless you always.

Charlton 0 Derby County 1 (Russell 60).

Kevin Nolan reports from The Valley.

This narrow defeat inflicted by play-off aspirants Derby County -their 10th single goal reverse of the season- could be used as a blueprint in explaining why Charlton are slipping inexorably into League One.

Not for the first time recently they matched upwardly ambitious opponents step for step but when push came to shove (as presumably it did in the cockeyed decision of referee Darren Bond to disallow a patently valid goal by Jorge Teixeira) they came up short again. They also hit the woodwork before succumbing to a familiar weakness, namely their chronic inability to deal with corner kicks.

To be fair, for an hour the Addicks had coped adequately with a steady stream of corners delivered by Tom Ince until one too many of the winger’s nagging flagkicks was nodded on by Chris Martin and headed under the bar by Johnny Russell at the far post.

At the time, the out-of-luck home team were still burning with resentment at Bond’s howler mere moments before Russell scored.. There was clearly nothing illegal about Teixeira’s challenge on Scott Carson before he headed past the indecisive goalkeeper and Bond clearly wavered before coming down in favour of an endangered species. Refined as they are in their various forms of villainy, among which eye-gouging is amost an art form, rugby must roll up with laughter to hear football’s persistent claim to be considered a contact sport. And Nat Lofthouse (check with your grandads, kids) must be turning in his grave.

Only minutes before Teixeira was robbed, Charlton had further cause to curse their luck when Carson was left stranded as Igor Vetokele’s looping header left him helpless but rebounded off the bar. It’s all too late to matter this season, of course, but when you’ve reached bottom, fate seems determined to kick you down even further. But at least Jose Riga can find consolation in the fight being shown by his doomed side.

Nobody embodies their spirit more than Nick Pope, whose constantly improving goalkeeping has hopefully silenced critics who made no allowance for youth in making him the latest of their scapegoats for the Addicks’ frailty. In the first half, Pope pulled off an all but unbelievable double save, the second of which was clearly his best of the season.

Moving across his line from left to right to cover his near post, young Nick was wrongfooted as Ince squeezed Russell’s low centre back across him from a tight angle. Sticking out an instinctive left boot, Pope somehow blocked the bobbling shot but only as far as Martin, who had the whole goal at which to aim from 10 yards. The centre forward’s vicious drive was the surest of sure things until Pope’s electric reflexes enabled him to conjure the ball over the bar. The standing ovation he earned was heartfelt; now maybe he can get on with his job of pinning down Charlton’s goalkeeping duties for the foreseeable future.

During a first half of honest endeavour but few chances, the Addicks shared what there were with the fifth-placed Rams. Callum Harriott managed the first effort on target but Carson saved comfortably, then Cyrus Christie’s magnificent block denied Johann Berg Gudmundsson as the Icelandic stylist shaped to shoot from close range. A weaving run by the irrepressible Ademola Lookman set up Harriott to drive inches off target with his less favoured right foot. At the other end, Harriott’s clumsy challenge on Russell conceded a dangerous free kick which Jacob Butterfield wasted before Martin set up Russell to let fly on the run but wastefully wide. Following Pope’s double-save heroics, Teixeira ‘s desperate interception foiled Ince on the left byline and the trickster closed a lively enough opening period by blasting aimlessly over the bar a free kick needlessly conceded by Morgan Fox for a foul on the persistent Ince.

With their fate already a whisker away from being sealed, Charlton’s hunger for victory after the break was nonetheless admirable. A goalmouth scramble saw the rapidly improving Rod Fanni’s effort scraped clear, then Lookman’s inswinging corner headed unluckily off the bar by Vetokele. Teixeira promptly became the victim of Bond’s flagrant injustice (which predictably passed unremarked on Channel 5 later in the evening) and Russell celebrated Derby’s escape by heading them into an undeserved lead.

Still Charlton refused to capitulate. Butterfield’s crude tackle on Lookman, for which he was rightly booked, was almost punished by the youngster, whose wickedly swerving free kick was brilliantly tipped over by Carson but the beleaguered visitors were not quite safe yet. Gudmundsson’s resultant corner reached the insatiably working Jordan Cousins, whose ferocious drive skimmed the left post. In a last hurrah, a fine, last ditch defensive header by Jason Shackell whisked Marco Motta’s lethal cross off fellow substitute Simon Makienok’s head as an equaliser appeared inevitable. Yet again, it was too little too late…which could serve as an epitaph for Charlton’s disastrous season.

This report is dedicated to Programme cover boy Jack Wood, Perry Goldstone, James Barnes and their Upbeats teammates who have cheered us up while we’re going down. Thanks, chaps.

Charlton: Pope, Solly (Motta 78), Fanni, Teixeira, Fox, Harriott, Cousins, Diarra (Makienok 83), Lookman (Bergdich 90), Gudmundsson, Vetokele. Not used: Mitov, Suk-Young, Jackson, Lennon. Booked: Fox.

Derby: Carson, Christie, Keogh, Shackell, Hanson, Bryson, Thorne, Butterfield (Hughes 71), Russell, Martin, Ince. Not used: Mitchell, Buxton, Bent, Camara, Blackman, Weimann. Booked: Christie, Butterfield, Keogh.

Referee: Darren Bond. Att: 15,857.

Charlton 2 (Teixeira 57, Harriott 80) Middlesbrough 0

Kevin Nolan reports from The Valley.

It could be a case of too little too late but the renewed spirit which drove Charlton to this important victory over promotion candidates Middlesbrough suggests that the bookies won’t be paying off early on their impending relegation. They might be limping badly but there’s life left in this old dog yet.

On a chilly Sabbath afternoon, during which the football was sometimes secondary to distractions elsewhere, the Addicks were good value for their first home win since Sheffield Wednesday were sent packing on November 7th. The Owls are co-incidentally their next opponents at Hillsborough on Saturday. An unlikely league double is precisely what the club doctor would order.

Keeping their attention firmly fixed on events over which they had no control, Jose Riga’s newly resilient side (seven points from the last nine and two back-to-back clean sheets) took advantage of Boro’s own inter-club issues. Although interim boss Steve Agnew denied that the acrimonious departure of Aitor Karanka less than 24 hours before this mutually vital fixture had affected its result, it was surely a relief, not to mention a welcome novelty, for Charlton to face opposition in even greater disarray than themselves.

It hadn’t seemed quite so promising when Agnew’s teamsheet confirmed that Addicks nemesis Jordan Rhodes would feature in his starting line-up. No favourite of Aranka but scorer of 11 goals in 13 previous games against Charlton, Rhodes was a tempting 5-4 bet to score on Saturday. But apart from one header which wastefully directed Albert Adomah’s perfect cross straight at Nick Pope, he never threatened to justify the odds. Scarcely allowed a touch, he incurred a booking for his niggling obstruction of Pope before departing hang-dog on 74 minutes, unwittingly joining a pre-planned walk-out of home fans with different motives for prematurely quitting the scene.

The peripheral incidents, meanwhile, had begun at kick-off, with the carefully orchestrated release of black-and-white beach balls, which caused a four-minute delay before the pitch was cleared. Minutes later, a phantom whistler in the North Stand brought the action to a standstill as the players reacted obediently. Referee Darren Deadman handled the crisis by patiently demonstrating, unlike Basil Fawlty who befuddled his guests by stressing the barely detectable musical differences between the burglar and fire alarms, that his whistle was clearly two octaves higher than the interloper’s. The crowd did its bit by cheerfully reminding everyone that it’s always wise anyway to play to the whistle.

A mundane first half ground on, enlivened by the various off-pitch antics but featuring little in the way of positive action from sides with vastly differing agendas. Encouraged by a battling captain’s performance from Jordan Cousins, the Addicks had the better of what little action there was. Continuing his recent improvement in form, Johann Berg Gudmundsson tested Dimi Konstantopoulos with a raking low drive while Callum Harriott, paired upfront with Ademola Lookman in a partnership long on nimbleness but short on height, drove narrowly over the bar.

Responding for the visitors, attacking left back George Friend’s awkward cross was expertly cushioned back to Pope by Jorge Teixeira, his cool defensive example hardly emulated by Rod Fanni, who almost marred an otherwise excellent contribution with an own goal when Emilio Nsue’s hard-driven centre cannoned off him but was repelled by Pope’s wonderfully instinctive reflexes.

Twelve minutes after the break, Charlton grabbed a not altogether unexpected lead. Gudmundsson’s outswinging left wing corner, earned by Cousins’ fiercely deflected shot, was headed down and in by Teixeira. The Portuguese’s first goal for the club reversed the worrying trend of conceding themselves from setpieces.

Beaten only once in three games since being recalled, Pope protected the lead by reacting sharply to keep out Adomah’s long-distance potshot, was relieved to watch the same player’s powerful drive clear his bar by inches, then twisted athletically to touch Gaston Ramirez’s treacherously swerving free kick over the top.

With the Teesiders improving, a second goal was required to finish them off; ten minutes from the end, Harriott popped up to provide the necessary insurance. Set up by Gudmundsson from the left byline, the busy marksman’s first shot was blocked. Pouncing on the rebound, his follow-up effort was drilled ruthlessly into the bottom right corner. The booking he incurred for jubilantly removing his shirt seemed worth it.

Reports of Charlton’s demise, it seems, are greatly exaggerated, despite the moving cortege which had escorted their symbolic corpse from Charlton Liberal Club to The Valley before the game. Tagging along in hopes of a rousing wake, it was a bit deflating to discover there were no nibbles or wine on offer. Only kidding, of course, because Charlton’s remarkable fans showed yet again on Saturday, that while increasing the pressure on the club’s ownership, their backing of their beloved side never wavered. Team not regime, that’s been the watchword.

Charlton: Pope, Motta, Teixeira, Fanni, Fox, Gudmundsson (Lennon 90), Cousins, Diarra, Suk-Young, Lookman (Ghoochannejhad 78), Harriott (Bergdich 88). Not used: Mitov, Holmes-Dennis, Johnson, Poyet. Booked: Fox, Diarra, Harriott.

Middlesbrough: Konstantopoulos, Gibson, Fry, Clayton, Friend, Leadbitter, Ramirez, Downing (Nugent 74), Nsue, Adomah, Rhodes (Stuani 74). Not used: Agazzi, De Laet, De Sart, Kalas, Forshaw. Booked: Layton, Rhodes.

Referee: Darren Deadman. Att: 14,636 (2,342 visiting).

Charlton 0 MK Dons 0.

Kevin Nolan reports from The Valley.

As Charlton bumbled their way to a point which, in their current plight, does nothing to relieve the pressure on them, Jose Riga’s inflated reputation as a survival guru took a battering. His team selection but, more crucially, his curious deployment of substitutes, came into serious question. In a game the Addicks desperately needed to win, the “head coach” hardly distinguished himself with several baffling decisions.

Based on the carnage he had caused -sometimes inadvertently – against Reading and Brentford, YaYa Sanogo was confidently expected to start against MK Dons, those liberty taking cuckoos who invited themselves unasked into Wimbledon’s nest and have still to be accepted as part of the wider football family. Nice stadium though, to be fair, which damns them with faint praise.

Like John Cleese’s revolutionary Reg in Life of Brian, unfortunately, Sanogo’s bad back ruled him out of the action such as it was, his absence understandable until, on 58 minutes, he surprisingly replaced Callum Harriott to widespread dismay. After a so-so first half, marred by his proclivity for running into cul-de-sacs, then resorting to fouls in his efforts to back out of them, Harriott had begun the second session on fire. His aggressive running thrust the visitors on the back foot and, in combination with Yun Suk-Young, he created Charlton’s best chance which Jordan Cousins curled narrowly wide. Boosted by his two goals at Griffin Park, Harriott was showing encouraging signs of taking this game by the scruff of its dreary neck when, abruptly, Riga removed him. His obvious displeasure as ne neared the dug-out, belied the touching father-son relationship romantics have woven around player and manager, as in “Jose really knows how to get the best out of Callum.” And “Callum really responds to an affectionately paternal arm round his shoulder.” It’s probably no more than a family falling-out, though.They’ll make it up in time.

If Harriott’s withdrawal was a tactical gaffe, then the introduction of Sanogo raised quizzical eyebrows. A bad back is, after all, a bad back and was enough to keep Reg out of the Judean Popular Front’s latest bid for freedom. If Sanogo was considered fit enough to play for over 30 minutes, then surely he could have been risked from the start instead of the ineffectual Simon Makienok. And equally surely it should have been Makienok, not Harriott, who made way for him. Say hey, Jose… a couple of bad calls.

And Riga’s reluctance to play Ademola Lookman, what are we to make of that? The ebullient kid erupted from the bench in the 82nd minute to belatedly replace Makienok and proceeded to terrorise the increasingly complacent visitors. Completely incapable of controlling his electric eel trickery, both Kyle McFadzean and Sami Carruthers were panicked into bookings for manhandling the newcomer. Given more time, Lookman showed that he had the winning of this make-or-break game in him. Too late was the cry!

Karl Robinson’s side, meanwhile, made unconvincing efforts to win the game but were clearly satisfied with a point which, once news of Rotherham’s remarkable victory over Middlesbrough came through, lost some of its lustre. Being painstakingly fair again on the Buckinghamshire interlopers, it must be conceded that owner Pete Winkelman’s loyalty to Robinson, despite relegation, serves as an eloquent reproach to the backstabbing treachery of Mad Hatter Roland Duchatelet. Approximately two and and a half years since he sat next to Chris Powell and expressed, in weasel words, his intention to work alongside his manager, he has used and abused not only Powell but one successor (five in all, soon to be six when Riga is shown the door at the end of the season) after another. Charlton have been reduced to football’s laughing stock and are fast disappearing down the Championship rabbit hole. Where they eventually bottom out is a matter for grave concern because League One might turn out to be merely a landing stage on the humiliating way to League Two.

The less said the better, by the way, about this depressing game. Apart from Cousins’ near thing, competent goalkeeping by Nick Pope, which included a smart save from Rob Hall and bravery at Nicky Maynard’s feet to redeem his own potentially catastrophic kicking error, there isn’t much else to report. Flat and listless, the minutes ticked by uneventfully until Lookman stepped in to demonstrate that Mk Dons had little to offer.

Scarcely inspired by the youngster’s example, Sanogo disgraced himself during added time when he resolved a disagreement with Antony Kay by elbowing the defender in front of witnesses, among which was numbered referee Charles Breakspear. That’s the irresponsible Gooner gone for the next three games; so YaYa Sanogoals for the time being then.

We move on without him, of course, with Middlesbrough, keen no doubt to make up for the blip at Rotherham, due at The Valley on Sunday. The Addicks are still alive. There’s still a tangible pulse. And the gap, incredibly, still stands at seven points. Shame there’s now two teams holding that advantage but we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. It ain’t over till it’s ov…

Charlton: Pope, Motta, Fanni, Teixeira, Fox, Harriott (Sanogo 58), Cousins, Poyet (Bergdich 71), Gudmundsson, Suk-Young, Makienok (Lookman 82). Not used: Mitov, Ghoochannejhad, Holmes-Dennis, Johnson. Sent off: Sanogo.

MK Dons: Martin, Lewington, McFadzean, Kay, Potter, Bowditch (Reeves 61), Carruthers, Baldock, Williams (Hall 54), Maynard (Revell 69), Murphy. Not used: Cropper, Spence, Emmanuel-Thomas, Powell. Booked: McFadzean, Carruthers.

Referee: Charles Breakspear.

Att: 13,146 (532 visiting).

Charlton 3 (Sanogo 7,49,84) Reading 4 (Kermorgant 4,35, John 42, Rakels 90).

Kevin Nolan reports from The Valley.

A stirring, riproaring second half rally, during which Charlton clawed back a two-goal interval deficit, ended familiarly – in heartbreak.Their statuesque defending of Jordan Obita’s added time free kick continued their chronic vulnerability to setpieces and allowed Reading’s late substitute Deniss Rakels to cause widespread dismay by poaching an easy winner at the far post.
In snatching disastrous defeat from the jaws of a useful draw, the Addicks failed to capitalise on that rarest of beasts – a hat-trick by Arsenal loanee YaYa Sanogo, the first by a Charlton player since Callum Harriott bagged all three goals in a 3-0 victory at Blackpool in May 2013.

Sanogo’s heroics earned him local plaudits but it was his centre forward counterpart wearing the hoops of Reading who inflicted the greater damage. Charlton fans needed no reminding how good Yann Kermorgant can be and he wasted little time in rolling back the years for them. His typically astute 4th minute header guided Ola John’s left wing cross in text book fashion back across Stephen Henderson from the far post and neatly down into the opposite corner of his net. The burly hitman considerately declined to celebrate and received a generous ovation from his former aficionados. In this reporter’s opinion, he had every right to perform a Breton folk dance and follow it with a few bars of La Marsellaise. He was, you’ll recall, forced out of The Valley after Chris Powell had been assured that, in Piotr Parzyszek, a superior replacement was already on the roster. That’s Parzyszek…Piotr Parzyscek. There’s an empty peg and locker waiting for you, Piotr, get in touch, pal, we’re pining for you. It’s not too late.. Who are ya, by the way? How will we know you?

Kermorgant’s opener sealed a bright start by the Royals, with Stephen Quinn’s drive having already clipped the crossbar before he scored. But within three minutes of falling behind, the first contribution to Sanogo’s hat-trick restored parity for the home side. The equaliser was created by Marco Motta, who came through a midfield challenge against John before sending Sanogo away with a perceptive through pass. Taking the ball in stride, the lanky Frenchman tricked his way past Jake Cooper before hammering a low drive past Ali Al-Habsi.

The Gallic striking duel between Sanogo and Kermorgant looked briefly to have tipped in the former’s favour but his crisp drive, after Johan Berg Gudmundsson got the better of Michael Hector on the right byline, buried itself into Al-Habsi’s midriff.

Kermorgant responded immediately by heading Hector’s corner past Henderson but Simon Makienok, stationed on the goalline close to the left post, had little difficulty in kicking the ball off the line. Hmm, a player on the line defending corners… now what century did that idea come from?
The big Yann was hard to resist, however, his second goal on 35 minutes being a thing of unquestionable beauty. Receiving Hal Robson-Kanu’s pass inside the penalty area but confronted by two opponents, he nonchalantly sidestepped them, then curled a quite magnificent shot into the top right corner. There’s always been more to Kermorgant than mere aerial artisan, a point he further stressed with a splendid pass, struck with the outside of his right foot, which bisected Charlton’s square defence and sent John through to keep his composure before slotting coolly past the advancing Henderson and make it 3-1 at the break.

The interval introduction of Zakaraya Bergdich for El-Hadji Ba paid off almost instantly for Jose Riga, although John first startled him by hitting the bar from 25 yards. Bergdich’s skilful turn of pace on the left then had Chris Gunter gasping, setting up a precise cross which Sanogo headed forcefully but straight at Al-Habsi. The ball rebounded back over the line off Cooper for might well have been an own goal but… good luck with getting the match ball back off YaYa.

After Henderson saved magificently from Kermorgant, Makienok created the next opportunity in this chance-strewn game. His flicked header played Sanogo through to loft the ball over the advancing Al-Habsi but an improvised lob lacked the necessary juice to beat the covering Paul McShane, who cleared the danger at the expense of a corner. Hard to discourage, though, Sanogo cleverly sent Bergdich away to confront Al-Habsi but in the same position and circumstances that John had successfully dealt with earlier on, the Moroccan shot against the advancing keeper. It proved to be an expensive miss.

There were was no stopping Sanogo, however, and he reacted sharply to the loose ball after Gudmundsson’s ferocious drive almost bowled Al-Habsi over. The finish was scruffy and barely made it into the net but his second equaliser, with only six minutes remaining, appeared to have earned the Addicks a brave, precious point. Which made it all the more demoralising when the visitors stole victory deep into five minutes of added time.

A pointless foul by Rod Fanni near the left touchline conceded a free kick which Obita hoisted into a crowded penalty area, where Roger Johnson’s clumsy, abortive attempt to clear wrongfooted Henderson and his equally nonplussed colleagues. Unmarked at the far post, Rakels had the simple task of tapping into an open goal, behind which the celebrations were mighty. The rest of The Valley was as raucous as a research library.

Still remarkably in reasonable touch with their relegation rivals, Charlton -and their imperturbably bulletproof boss Riga – won’t be giving up quite yet. Nor is your correspondent. Next up are Brentford (a), followed by MK Dons (h), two fixtures which offer hope. Win both of those (it’s called mindless optimism) and you never know. We’ll draw a veil over the Sabbath visit of formidable Middlesbrough and Jordan Rhodes on March 13th. No need to spread defeatism or despair. Those unwanted pests arrive uninvited. But hang in there a bit longer. It ain’t over yet. That’s the good word.

Charlton: Henderson, Fanni, Johnson, Teixeira, Motta (Harriott 77), Ba (Bergdich 46), Diarra, Yun, Gudmundsson, Makienok, Sanogo (Ghoochannejhad 89). Not used: Pope, Fox, Lookman, Poyet. Booked: Gudmundsson.

Att: 21,506 (3,025 visiting).

Fulham 3 (Cairney 31, 79, Madl 59) Charlton 0.

Charlton fans who couldn’t -or understandably wouldn’t – attend this latest exposure of Charlton’s shameful ineptitude will find it easy to mentally recreate the routine course it followed. But it might complete the picture for others if we skim through the familiar process by which they shipped their sixth 3-0 hiding of this miserable season.

It began, as usual, with an opening period during which the Addicks were clearly “the better side” but couldn’t quite crown their spurious superiority by actually scoring. Check. Almost on cue around the half hour mark, they instead conceded the lead by failing to defend a left wing corner. Check. The interval arrived with the opposition “unjustly” 1-0 up. Check. After an hour, a second goal, again from a poorly defended left wing corner, put paid to any thoughts of an unlikely comeback. Check. Twenty minutes later, believe it or not folks, yet another left wing corner caused still more chaos and Charlton collapsed under a third goal. Check. Complete the necessary documentation and submit to the Football League. Check…and out. Any questions?

Network boss Jose Riga was succinct in his evaluation of this latest battering. “We concede three times from setpieces” he revealed, “so that was the main problem today. But I still believe.” You don’t say, Jose. It’s hard to slip anything past you.

Riga was razor sharp if patently obvious in identifying his side’s chronic vulnerability to corners as the main problem but it was hardly the only one. A failure to score in three successive games, two of them against fellow relegation strugglers, could count as another reasonably significant weakness as might the soft underbelly so regularly not to mention contemptuously ripped open by even the most modest of opposition. It’s impossible to make a silk purse fom the sows’ ears he has been handed but the suspicion persists that Riga is himself overrated and is merely the best of a bad bunch of so-called managers floating around Roland Duchatelet’s mediocre network, who work cheap on short contracts. That’s apparently their best recommendation. You rack your brains to think of another.

But back briefly to Charlton’s “purple patch”, during which, to be fair, they played some neat stuff and carved out one or two reasonable chances. The first of them was created by Zakaraya Bergdich’s electric dart to the left byline followed by his accurate cutback to set up a crisp first-time shot from Callum Harriott which brought Andy Lonergan down low to his right to save. The visitors continued on top with Fernando Amorbieta’s foul on Harriott conceding Johann Berg Gudmunsson’s free kick blocked by Fulham’s wall back to Gudmundsson, who volleyed wide. A fine ball from the left by Morgan Fox was then whisked from under Gudmundsson’s nose by Luke Garbutt. Their efforts amounted to no more than mild pressure before the Cottagers put them in their place on the prescribed half hour.

A carefully worked short corner between Ross McCormack and Garbutt led to an awkward low drive from McCormack which Stephen Henderson alertly scrambled to temporary safety at the foot of his right post. McCormack swung in the second flagkick, the outstanding Scott Parker smashed it against the crossbar before Tom Cairney, with his weaker right foot, blasted Fulham’s opener into the top left corner. An uncharacteristically glaring miss from 12 yards by, of all people, McCormack, spared the Addicks more damage before the break, encouraging the misguided notion that they’d somehow been unjustly treated by the 1-0 scoreline.

Still lively enough, Harriott opened the second period by stinging Lonergan’s palms before the West Londoners again found another gear to double their lead. A more orthodox corner from McCormack was simply headed past Henderson by half-time substitute Michael Madl, whose clever movement earned him those mythical “acres of space” in which footballers operate. Irritating cliche, that one. My apologies for using it. Won’ t happen again, which might be more than Charlton can promise.

Operating alongside McCormick, meanwhile, young Academy graduate Moussa Dembele had been subdued until he cut loose from 25 yard and all but shattered the bar. Cairney also came close with a more sedate effort which he dinked over the advancing Henderson but also over the bar.

Fulham were not kept waiting long for the statutory third goal, fizzed fiercely home by Cairney after the latest of McCormack’s inswinging corners was scuffed out to him on the edge of the penalty area. The standard 3-0 drubbing had been completed and was not destined to be affected by Harriott’s dreadful miss shortly before referee Kevin Friend drew the embarrassment to a merciful conclusion.

There is no wish to victimise Harriott in describing his largely irrelevant miscue, other than to spotlight Charlton’s pathetic record of 26 goals scored in 32 league games and to make the observation that a natural finisher, in preference to the baffling acquisition of reluctant imports, has been their pressing need all season. A trawl through the domestic lower leagues seems a more sensible bet. That Paddy Madden at Scunthorpe United for instance. Is he worth a look? Can we afford him? Has he, or any other potential marksman, ever appeared on Roland’s blinkered radar? Is it true that our owner has short arms but deep pockets? Does he have a clue what he’s doing?

And Harriott’s miss? Until he subsided along with the rest of his colleagues, he was among the better performers. But when Simon Makienok expertly cushioned Fox’s excellent cross on to his favoured left foot, nobody really expected him to hit the target. Last seen, his hilariously skybound shot was seen bouncing around that marvellous Spanish Civil War memorial at the far end of Bishops Park. Until then, a short pilgrimage to pay our respects had been the only redeeming feature of a thoroughly depressing visit to Putney. We won’t be returning in the near future.

Fulham: Lonergan, Fredericks, Burn, Amorbieta, Garbutt, Cairney (Tunnicliffe 84), Parker, O’Hara (Baird 46), Kacaniklik (Madl 46), McCormack, Dembele. Not used: Richards, Smith, Lewis, Hyndman. Booked; Amorbieta, Burn, Tunnicliffe.

Att: 16,565 (1,776 visiting).
Referee: Kevin Friend.

Charlton 0 Bristol City 1 (Tomlin 21,pen).

Kevin Nolan reports from The Valley.

There have been quite a few dark, desperate days at The Valley down the years. D-Days you might call them, disasters fraught with despair, disillusionment and disappointment. There’s no need to rehearse them here but it’s enough to say that this drab February afternoon takes its rightful place among them. It was about as dire as it gets, coming as it did on the heels of Charlton’s most encouraging display of this dismal season.

That ruthless demolition of Rotherham United quickly faded into already distant memory as the events- or rather non-events- of this dreadful game unfolded. With everything to play for against fellow-strugglers Bristol City, the Addicks managed one shot on target and that a risible effort from Zakaraya Bergdich, which trickled almost apologetically into Richard O’Donnell’s hands early in the second half. That’s all, folks!

Except to report that Bristol City were only marginally less awful than their toothless hosts. Given something to defend after referee Mike Jones’ disputed but correct decision that Lee Tomlin had been needlessly shoved in the back by Johann Berg Gudmundsson as he pursued Bobby Reid’s deflected shot inside the penalty area, they protected their advantage with embarrassing ease. In fact, had it not been for Stephen Henderson’s defiant goalkeeping, they might have strolled home with something to spare.

Rumoured to be on his way to join Charlton during the transfer window, Tomlin was the difference between the sides. Not that he played particularly well but he both earned and converted the matchwinning penalty before being substituted on the hour. Jose Riga’s accusation that the Bournemouth loanee dived under Gudmundsson’s gentle but significant pressure was merely the cry-wolf reaction of a frustrated manager and as such should be ignored.

Riga might more profitably enquire how playmaker Tomlin eluded him during the transfer window. It seems that Charlton have a novel take on the loan system. While Tomlin was rushed into City’s line-up as a quick fix that worked and which is the point of the loan system, we have to assume that Ya Ya Sanogo and Rod Fanni were dubiously added with an increasingly uncertain future in mind. Neither of them so much as made the bench on Saturday which implies that they had been recruited without Riga’s enthusiastic approval. Unless, of course, they weren’t match fit. Almost overlooked that point. You don’t set foot in Sparrows Lane without proof that you lack match fitness. After all, we didn’t get where we are today by being fit and we certainly don’t need any eager beavers with a point to prove. Like Lee Tomlin.

Anyway, without being too hard on the new boss, it’s tempting to conclude that any potential Riga-bounce has fizzled out all too soon. So cocky and confident in South Yorkshire a week previously, the Addicks froze in front of their own fans as usual. Their last victory at The Valley was the surprise defeat of Sheffield Wednesday on November 7th, since when it’s been an almost unrelieved tale of frustration.

There was never any suggestion that the three-months wait would be ended at Bristol City’s expense. The Westcountrymen’s arrival co-incided with the news that Lee Johnson had been prised from Barnsley to fill the managerial space left by Steve Cotterill’s dismissal. Though Johnson watched this game from the VIP seating, the sense was that Charlton were the first victims of the Robins’ new manager bounce.

The Robins’ incoming gaffer will regard this result as a welcome bonus before buckling down to duty. His new charges moved in front on 21 minutes after Tomlin made the most of Gudmundsson’s clumsy indiscretion, dusted himself off (as the cliche routinely has it) and forced an unconvincing spotkick under the unlucky Henderson’s right elbow. He will have noted how easily they defended their lead and will be forgiven for concluding that avoiding relegation will be a piece of cake if the rest of City’s rivals turn out to be as feckless as Charlton.

A little unfortunate with the penalty, Henderson singlehandedly maintained his side’s notional interest in this game as a contest. Soon after they fell behind, he performed an amazing juggling act to first parry, then paw to safety Reid’s wickedly deflected drive. Nearer the end, he backpedalled frantically to touch Luke Freeman’s cheeky long-distance lob over the bar before responding athletically to turn the same player’s fierce drive away at full length.

Henderson’s heroics were to go unrewarded while the Addicks, a shadow of the fast-breaking, pacy outfit which blew Rotherham away a week earlier, pottered about without purpose or, more to the point, hope. Sent plunging to the bottom of the league, they are exactly where they belong and where they will stay until the lugubrious M. Duchatlelet grasps what the club’s despised fans already know. The managerial not-so-merry-go-round of foreign network managers (three already this season) and inconsequential crust-earning players is farcical and is turning Charlton into the punchline of a huge joke.

The presence of Lee Tomlin in the visiting ranks on Saturday makes the point perfectly. With the addition of his talent and Lee Johnson’s Anglo-Saxon phlegm, Bristol City have already taken a huge stride towards safety. They say it’s never too late to learn. So, RD, look, listen and learn. You might find you’re wrong.

Charlton: Henderson, Solly, Teixeira, Lennon, Fox (Harriott 78), Gudmundsson, Cousins, Jackson (Ba 85), Bergdich, Makienok, Lookman (Ghoochannejhad 63). Not used: Pope, Sarr, Johnson, Poyet.

Booked: Jackson, Ba.

Bristol City: O’Donnell. Little, Flint, Baker, Smith, Tomlin (Wilbraham 61), Golbourne, Reid (Wagstaff 66), Freeman. Pack, Kodjia (Agard 79). Not used: Fielding, Williams, Pearce, Burns.

Booked: Smith, Pack.

Referee: Mike Jones.

14,342 (2,208 visiting).
N.B. On the subject of D-Day, there was a large hole at The Valley on Saturday when Normandy veteran Donald Hunt, now in his advanced 90s, was forced to miss his first game for ages. Donald was taken ill and admitted to Lewisham Hospital but is confidently expected to recover. The former Kings Own Scottish Borderer was extremely peeved by his enforced absence but might be back next Saturday. We’ll be looking out for you, Don. Be well. Kev and Haze.

Charlton 1 (Lennon 30) Blackburn Rovers 1 (Rhodes 45)

With a keen eye on the two separate items on their agenda, Charlton’s fans responded magnificently to their dilemma by maintaining the pressure on absentee owner Roland Duchatelet and his embattled CEO Katrien Miere, while simultaneously keeping faith with their team. Lifted by an improved performance under new manager Jose Riga, they stayed solidly behind the players but punctuated their vocal efforts with three spirited, cleverly timed requests that The Valley “stand up if you want them out”. Even those who regard democratic protest with patrician disdain might grudgingly concede that the response of a smallish crowd was all but unanimous. It’s known as vox populi but stubborn Duchatelet appears deaf to its legitimate demands.

Recent sufferers at Huddersfield and Hull will vouch for the huge improvement on the playing pitch. I was an appalled witness to the carnage in West Yorkshire but dodged a bullet on Humberside where, word among ashen-faced survivors has it, Charlton set new standards in gormless ineptitude.

Without a win in eleven games since beating Birmingham City on November 21st, a slump which included hugely embarrassing FA Cup defeat by Colchester United, the Addicks would assuredly have halted their decline but for the presence, in Blackburn Rovers’ otherwise mediocre line-up, of a certain Jordan Rhodes. Scorer of seven goals in his last four games against the South Londoners, it was hardly a shock that it was this arch-predator who equalised for the visitors in first half added time. It’s safe to say that if Rhodes were an Addick rather than a Rover, the Londoners would be free from the worry currently undermining them because sticking the ball in the opposition’s net remains the most difficult and thus coveted of the footballing arts. Rhodes was no doubt an irritating goalhanger in his school playground. He can’t help himself.

Boosted by Harry Lennon’s lucky strike, the home side were within one token extra minute of taking a deserved lead in with them at half-time. Possibly they relaxed in anticipation of such luxury as Corry Evans’ measured pass picked out his overlapping right back Adam Henley to leave Morgan Fox outnumbered on Charlton’s left flank. Henley’s precise cross was met by Rhodes’s head and squeezed in off Stephen Henderson’s groping left hand and the keeper’s near post. No PA announcement was required to identify Blackburn’s scorer. When Charlton are his opponents, all goals lead to Rhodes.

A quarter hour earlier, Lennon’s second goal of the season had briefly cheered up the locals. As scruffy as it was welcome, it featured Johann Berg Gudmundsson’s accurate free kick, an untidy clash between impressive new boy Jorge Texeira and Rovers’ skipper Grant Hanley and an instinctively prodded effort from the promising young centre back. Catching a helpful deflection off Chris Taylor, his unconvincing shot squirted past wrongfooted keeper Jason Steele before finding its way into the bottom right corner.

Apart from the constant threat of arch enemy Rhodes, Rovers offered little else apart, it has to be said, from the herculean long throws regularly launched by Tommy Spurr. Funny how the long throw assumes all the gravitas of the corner kick and is similarly treated by referees, instead of being hurried along like any orthodox throw. By the end of this game, Spurr was making the painstaking, diagonal journey from left back to the right touchline whenever the opportunity rose while time stood still as centre backs Hanley and Shane Duffy ambled majestically into Charlton’s penalty area. A wash and brush up of the ball preceded the airborne missiles launched, fruitlessly on this occasion, by the long throw specialist. Ten seconds per throw should be the yardstick before it’s transferred to the other team. And you may quote me to the FA lawmakers on the issue.

You may also deduce from my impassioned denunciation of the long throw that I have little else to say about this routine game. And you wouldn’t be entirely wrong. But make allowances and we’ll give it a go.

For the visitors, Craig Conway’s close range header early in the second half was smartly saved by Henderson, who later distinguished himself in narrowing the angle and blocking Rhodes after the sureshot was played through by Corry Evans. Rovers looked slightly more likely to produce a winner but ran into a home defence still feeling the humiliation of consecutive trouncings up country. There was a semblance of organisation about the Addicks this time and for that Riga is due some credit.

At the other end, unfortunately, Charlton were toothless, the fact that their goal was claimed by one of their centre backs, further evidence that the forwards are not doing their share. A rehabilitated Igor Vetokele was at least lively and stung Steele’s hands with a stinging drive when sent clear by Gudmundsson’s through ball down the inside left channel. Tony Watt, meanwhile, was determined to take Rovers on singlehandedly, a series of solo dribbles quickening the pulse but ending up in cul-de-sacs of his own making. He’s been an enigma to more than one manager. It’s now Riga’s turn to unwrap the riddle

Once erratic referee Rob Lewis had called time on the sub-standard proceedings, the action switched to the West Stand reception area, where the fans thronged to reassure the elusive owner that they had no intention of going away. To the many traditional ditties being warbled, may I direct the heartsick lament of the incomparable Hank Williams to the recalcitrant Duchatelet?

“The news is out all over town…that you’ve been seen a-running round…I know that I should leave but then…I just can’t go…you win again.”

That’s the thing about these turbulent supporters, M. Duchatelet, they just can’t go. But they won once before. Don’t be sure they won’t win again.

Charlton: Henderson, Solly, Texeira, Lennon, Fox, Gudmundsson, Cousins, Jackson, Bergdich (Harriott 75), Vetokele (Ghoochannejhad 75), Watt. Not used: Pope, Makienok, Ba, Johnson, Poyet.

Blackburn: Steele, Henley, Duffy, Hanley, Spurr, Taylor (Bennett 46), Akpan (Lenihan 83), Evans, Conway, Rhodes, Graham (Jackson 77). Not used: Raya, Kilgallon, Lawrence, Ward.

Booked: Duffy.

Referee: Rob Lewis.

Att: 13,512.

Huddersfield Town 5 (Hudson 18, Wells 44, Paterson 75, Holmes 79, Davidson 90) Charlton 0.

Kevin Nolan reports from John Smith Stadium.

Three days after so-called underdogs Colchester United had unceremoniously booted them out of the Cup, Charlton resumed their headlong slide towards League One with this craven capitulation in West Yorkshire. Leaderless, rudderless and in more ways than one pointless, they were an embarrassment to themselves and an insult to the 160 odd pilgrims who backed hope over experience in turning up on the most frigid evening of the winter so far. New disgraceful chapters are being written into the history of this great old club every week. This episode deserves a chapter of its own.

Throughout the latest debacle, hangdog interim coach Karel Fraeye stood transfixed in his technical area like a condemned man waiting to hear from the governor about his final appeal. Don’t like the look on the governor’s face, Karel. Seems your days were already numbered before kick-off. It’s being rumoured that the current boss of Ujpest FC, a Serbian who speaks a number of languages, sadly none of them English, is mooted to board the hamster’s wheel that is currently Charlton’s managerial seat. You’re allowed to laugh if it doesn’t hurt too much. But don’t split your sides.

Being contemptuously drubbed by a team themselves only 18th in the table defies description. But without going into its nuts and bolts, I’ll give it a plucky but advisedly truncated go. As I recall in my numbness, the visitors held out for 18 minutes before the latest of their old boys, Mark Hudson, headed the Terriers in front; they lasted another 26 before their statutory submission as the ref prepared his half-time whistle, collapsed entirely with three more goals conceded in the last quarter hour, then repaired to the dressing room for an old-fashioned punch-up. At least somebody cared but we already knew that about Johnnie Jackson, didn’t we? And there you go, the “contest” in a nutshell.

What else remains to be said about a club in total decline, a club once held up to others as a role model for sensible management and mutual ownership, except to note that it’s clear we’re living through some of the darkest days in its history? Days we’ll look back on with horror as that “Belgian balls-up” when it was in the hands of people with no understanding of its place in the community or in the hearts of its “customers.” All things must pass. As too will this hopefully ephemeral encounter with reticent Roly.

Before we move on, though, let me mention one fleeting moment of action mere minutes before the welcome end. Facing his own goal and harassed by Nakhi Wells as the ball landed awkwardly over his shoulder, Chris Solly produced a burst of speed, dived full length and headed safely back to Stephen Henderson. It was routine stuff but spoke volumes about this peerless professional. And when loyalists -not to mention 100% triers- like Solly and Jackson, who have done so much for the club, are dragged down into the mire around them, a stand must be made. It wouldn’t do to name names but it’s helpfully recommended that Nos.2, 7 and 16, for instance, take a good hard look at themselves in a mirror and decide whether there’s a professional footballer looking back at them. Then we can all crack on.

For crack on is what I propose to do right now. The normal length of my  reports is between 700-800 words. This one is coming in currently at some 200 less but if Charlton can knock off early, so can I. So with my best wishes to the intrepid few expected at Hull on Saturday and a copped plea that I can’t join them due to a prior engagement with the marvellous NHS (cheers for that, Nye), I’ll sign off. To tweak a phrase. that’s all he wrote.

Huddersfield: Steer, Smith, Davidson, Hudson (Cranie 78), Hogg, Paterson, Huws (Holmes 54), Bunn, Lolley (Dempsey 60), Wells, Lynch. Not used: Murphy, Miller, Husband, Billing.

Charlton: Henderson, Solly, Johnson, Lennon, Fox (Holmes-Dennis 62), Gudmundsson (Makienok 74), Poyet, Jackson, Williams (Ghoochannejhad 62), Harriott, Vaz Te. Not used: Pope, Sarr, Charles-Cook, Moussa. Booked: Solly, Williams, Fox, Ghoochannejhad. Sent off: Ghoochannejhad

Referee: Geoff Eltringham.

Att: 9,736.