Thursday, August 04, 2005
Bent double?
Charlton posted their first victory on home soil since March last night - five long months of waiting! Several of the summer signings played, and a healthy crowd enjoyed the summer evening. The couple of hundred Dutch fans seemed to have been drinking most of the day, but the only trouble they caused was by their numbers and the fact that the away end was not open. Stewards were seen frantically handing out new block tickets to the Cloggers in an effort to keep them together in one corner of the West stand, and this arrangement was quite successful. Once they had prised themselves away from the bar - just after half time!- their noise created a decent atmosphere and made the North stand upper burst into life briefly.
The other thing that made the North stand (and the whole ground) noisy were the two goals charlton scored. The first an own goal by Feyonoord 's goalie - hit on the back after Darren Bent's curled shot came back off the woodwork following a sublime pass from Rommerdahl - and the second a fine glancing header at the near post by Bent.
Overall, Pedro45's prediction that the Dutch team would be better prepared was wrong (no surprise there then!); Charlton were quick out of the blocks and created quite a few chances in the early stages. Bent put three headers over the bar; Dennis and Smertin put shots way up into the empty south stand; Murphy and Hughes curled shots just too high and wide. The half ended with The Addicks running out of ideas it seemed, and Feyonoord had a couple of half-chances which they wasted.
The goals came quite early in the second half and, after that, charlton never looked in too much trouble until near the very end when it didn't matter anymore.
Anderson made one good diving save from a cross but wasn't troubled at any other time; Young was as per usual; Powell was under pressure a little but experience proved it's worth; Herman and Perry linked well and took no prisoners (!); Smertin ran the whole show allowing Murphy, Hughes and Ambrose to find holes in the midfield and move forward; Dennis was Dennis; and Bent did little in build up but ran the corridors and attacked the ball in the penalty area.
Subs Thomas and Sam showboated (too much in Thomas's case, and he'll have bruises to show for it); Fuller got stuck in, and Jeffers ran around a little.
A good performance which, if repeated on Saturday, could be the lead up to a good season.
Spotted in the crowd were Martin Jol - the Spurs manager - with an unrecognised player, and Tony Adams who I believe is scouting for a premiership team these days (tell Pedro45 who if you know!).
The other thing that made the North stand (and the whole ground) noisy were the two goals charlton scored. The first an own goal by Feyonoord 's goalie - hit on the back after Darren Bent's curled shot came back off the woodwork following a sublime pass from Rommerdahl - and the second a fine glancing header at the near post by Bent.
Overall, Pedro45's prediction that the Dutch team would be better prepared was wrong (no surprise there then!); Charlton were quick out of the blocks and created quite a few chances in the early stages. Bent put three headers over the bar; Dennis and Smertin put shots way up into the empty south stand; Murphy and Hughes curled shots just too high and wide. The half ended with The Addicks running out of ideas it seemed, and Feyonoord had a couple of half-chances which they wasted.
The goals came quite early in the second half and, after that, charlton never looked in too much trouble until near the very end when it didn't matter anymore.
Anderson made one good diving save from a cross but wasn't troubled at any other time; Young was as per usual; Powell was under pressure a little but experience proved it's worth; Herman and Perry linked well and took no prisoners (!); Smertin ran the whole show allowing Murphy, Hughes and Ambrose to find holes in the midfield and move forward; Dennis was Dennis; and Bent did little in build up but ran the corridors and attacked the ball in the penalty area.
Subs Thomas and Sam showboated (too much in Thomas's case, and he'll have bruises to show for it); Fuller got stuck in, and Jeffers ran around a little.
A good performance which, if repeated on Saturday, could be the lead up to a good season.
Spotted in the crowd were Martin Jol - the Spurs manager - with an unrecognised player, and Tony Adams who I believe is scouting for a premiership team these days (tell Pedro45 who if you know!).
