An Athletic sprint down the Valley: V Charlton away 28th Oct. 3-0'clock.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

[TonyDomingos]

I won't embarrass myself by attempting a detailed analysis of the match, but I will say that it was a very enjoyable afternoon out. We were majestic in the first half and solid in the second. There was the odd wobble at the back on occasion, but Charlton never looked like getting back into it and couldn't have complained if it had been 0-3 or 4 (Dion! What were you thinking with that unnecessary second touch?!).

Thanks to the Pru Crew for taking me under their wing and word up to DSB & the mighty Flanners for their company on the train.

Looking forward to doing it all again sometime soon!

[TonyDomingos]

PS Loved Randell! On another day, he'd have had a hat trick.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

You wouldn’t embarrass yourself… how was the in-laws’ Halloween party?

[TonyDomingos]

You wouldn’t embarrass yourself… how was the in-laws’ Halloween party?

[TonyDomingos]

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And the pigeons!

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Ha yeah me and Flanners were analysing the pigeons. At one point, one cocky shite sat on the six yard line!

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Big test this. Big test of our consistency, attitude and determination.

I’d say we passed that test, wouldn’t you?

[jmjhb]

Ha yeah me and Flanners were analysing the pigeons. At one point, one cocky shite sat on the six yard line!

Were they playing offside?

[BWFC_Insane]

Big test this. Big test of our consistency, attitude and determination.

I’d say we passed that test, wouldn’t you?

Yes. It’s not simply a question of maintaining performance standards. Nobody thinks or expects us to win every game. But we can’t come up against a Carlisle at home or whatever and let our standards drop that far.

[jmjhb]

It is a bit mad that our three defeats this season are against the teams in 19th (although Wigan are probably upper mid-table quality), 21st and 24th.

[TANGODANCER]

It is a bit mad that our three defeats this season are against the teams in 19th (although Wigan are probably upper mid-table quality), 21st and 24th.

Not too surprising though is it really, jmjhb ? We have to accept this can happen any week due to unexpected factors because we aren't infallible and bookmakers and betting only exist from knowing this. Giving full credit for a great display against Charlton, We have to work on games being less of two halves and more constant in the energy stakes. It's less important as long as you are two goals ( or more) in front, but one goal is the rabbit to the hare and there are some quality players in this league. Campbell in particular was a constant threat yesterday and May will have a lash with either foot from anywhere around the box.

All said, we're playing well and making teams fear us. First half we looked like the players in White had had three Weetabix dipped in Lucozade for breakfast. Keep it up lads..

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Couple of other things to mention (I won't do a full report)

Forgot about Tomo's first-half chance. Fell to him on his duff foot and he got it on target but that coulda been a 3-0 HT lead, so when you add the second-halfers – Dion's fluff and Randell's two shots across goal - that could have been a much bigger scoreline.

Charlton seemed to be encouraging us to pass out through Toal - these days teams often choose a weaker link to press and they were noticeably quicker to close down Geth. The results, for us, were mixed. He never shirked the ball, because he doesn't; but his passing ranged from the functional to the off-beam, with his long pings being particularly unsuccessful. I like him a lot and that's the next thing for him to improve upon, especially if he's the longterm successor to Rico – who was outstanding, as one Addicks tweeter hilariously noted:

Before the game I worried that their 4-2-3-1 – a formation Evatt has (perhaps loose-lippedly) acknowledged can be a problem for us – would have May at 10 and thus floating in the gap between our back three and Sheehan at 6. No need to worry as Appleton respected us by bringing in Pan Camara to stiffen their midfield and thus playing May up front against Rico, who popped him in his pocket. Camara was subbed on the hour with May switching to 10 and Appleton introducing Miles Leaburn, 6ft6 and 6 goals in 10 games; again, Rico was untroubled.

But as Flanners noted, difficult to pick a man of the match because just about all of them were "on it" – playing to something like their best, but as part of a system. Good, is that. Vic and Dion, who had a relatively poor Tuesday IMO, were much better and linekd well. That big Dion chance - it came through a clearance to the left wing which Dion retrieved, held up, passed to his supportive mate Ade, who did really well to hold off the cebtre-back and slip through (the legs?) to Dion. We didn't score, but we will if they carry on like that. And we scored from two moves strung confidently and competently together.

Small moment of appreciation for Evatt's best October yet. It has been a month of horrors in the past - Orient 0-4, Wigan 0-4 (the first one), last October's back-to-back losses at Cheltenham and FGR – and this month brought Carlisle, but we bounced back from that very effectively, as the results show. (Greyed letter = cup game) So well done us. And keep it going!
.

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[nicholaldo]

Do we think Matt Craddock might've had an impact on our performances since stepping up or is it merely coincidence?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Do we think Matt Craddock might've had an impact on our performances since stepping up or is it merely coincidence?

Scoring such a training-ground set-piece is a good sign. I note he's already down on the site as Head Coach, although that may not be a clue.

We do seem to be interviewing candidates, as we damn well should, but (Carlisle aside) there certainly doesn't seem to have been a drop-off in the interim, which is good.

It's hard to know how long it would take for a bad coach to become obvious. As Mar said on the Hird thread, their input isn't always obvious; even if they're rubbish, the players may still benefit from the predecessor's positive input; and besides, first-team coaches are somewhat at the mercy of the manager and assistant telling them what to coach (eg to negate/exploit upcoming opponents, or particular focuses, such as transitions).

[officer_dibble]

Two good wins this week - one having been pegged back and despite the official highlights showing it being all Charlton after we met two up, I’m not getting that impressions. Great clean sheet and what sounds like a great team performance.

[Mar]

Two good wins this week - one having been pegged back and despite the official highlights showing it being all Charlton after we met two up, I’m not getting that impressions. Great clean sheet and what sounds like a great team performance.

Definitely wasn't all Charlton. In fact, when Charlton did attack, it never looked overly convincing. Almost as if we'd sorted ourselves out at the back enough to get our defensive positioning resolved for it not to be an issue. It's like when we had a slow attacking build up and the defence settled, it was just that way, but this time in our favour.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Two good wins this week - one having been pegged back and despite the official highlights showing it being all Charlton after we met two up, I’m not getting that impressions. Great clean sheet and what sounds like a great team performance.

Definitely wasn't all Charlton. In fact, when Charlton did attack, it never looked overly convincing. Almost as if we'd sorted ourselves out at the back enough to get our defensive positioning resolved for it not to be an issue. It's like when we had a slow attacking build up and the defence settled, it was just that way, but this time in our favour.

Indeed, I wasn’t too worried in the ground. Not exactly cigars-in-deckchairs but we looked competent considering Charlton had scored so many recently - and we’d had second-half wobbles. Baxter - who by the way really seems to have bought into the team’s passing and press-triggering concepts - didn’t have a vast amount to do but did it well.

On the flip side, particularly in the first half we were popping it about with such confidence in their half that you could feel the fear of the home fans. Second half we went slightly more direct to counter into the holes left as they pushed forward; but in the first half, we passed at such impressive pace it was a joy. As fans we fear the worst - it’s the price we pay for love - but we often forget to enjoy it when we cause the same feelings in the oppo.

[boltonboris]

Went away on holiday last Thursday, but managed to watch all the games on iFollow

This was probably the most polished of the lot. A really good, slick performance and could have been many more goals. Santos back in the team has been massive for us and Sheehan is becoming vital for us

[TANGODANCER]

Two good wins this week - one having been pegged back and despite the official highlights showing it being all Charlton after we met two up, I’m not getting that impressions. Great clean sheet and what sounds like a great team performance.

You've played well scored twice and go in at half time 2-0 up. What's the plan for Part II? Common sense says proceed with caution and , unless they score, defend the midfield and your own half and don't get tempted forth willy-nilly. That's more or less what we did and were reasonably comfortable doing it. You don't need to be Manager of the Year to work that out. An odd break will always come and if we can profit from it, fine. A hard earned but comfortable enough win against a decent/good side is about a fair summary. To say it was all Charlton is just so much southern sabre-rattling. Posterity will show Charlton O, Bolton 2.