Swindon 0 Charlton 2 - League Cup, First Round

As confirmation of the company we keep these days you wouldn't be surprised to note that its been 10 years since we last played in the First Round of the League Cup, a 2 leg defeat at the hands of Ipswich, the first leg on August 13th 1987 being Super Clive's first appearance in a Charlton shirt at the Valley. Never hinting at what was to follow that year at Wembley we slumped to a 0-1 defeat ( that made it 2 defeats in 4 days after losing at Middlesbro the previous Saturday ) and then lost again two weeks later at Portland Rd 3-1.

Anyway, this year was different and we have progressed to the Second Round with a 2-0 win over Swindon and in the process got our first win since March 31st, nine long and difficult games ago, against Wigan.

And further confirmation of how things change outside the Prem we'll find that its pretty impossible to get past the articles on Alves, Spurs and Tevez (still) and find anything about the Addicks victory. In fact the only neutral comment I can find on the game is a one-liner on Sporting Life that says rather unflatteringly "Neither team can gain control of the match. Key player: Lloyd Sam"

There's more at CAFC of course and Wyn's page.

According to Pards, the Sporting L comment must have been written at half-time as "we established ourselves in the second half and, with the wind behind us, we went up a gear. We were terrific all the way through the second half, much more solid, and we got two good goals."

OK, the lack in interest in obviously the key game of the night was probably due to other things going on, Premiership as well as Champions League qualifiers not to mention 32 League Cup games. Most notable among our peers was the sad demise of Palarse, losing on pens at Tier Three Bristol Rovers, although Scunthorpe reverted to type and lost at home to another Tier Three just-promoted side Hartlepool. I guess it was too much of an anti-climax for them.

On the team front, Marcus Bent continues to astonish, being the provider for the two goals with Dickson having his first showing in the red shirt, well two shades of blue actually. Fortune played the whole game as did Chrissie Powell - "Powell was the architect, surging down the left and delivering a fine cross that was headed down by Bent and there was Ambrose, timing his run to perfection to turn the ball home from close range."

The Addicks: Weaver; Moutaouakil, Powell, Bougherra, Fortune; Sam, Semedo, Ambrose, Reid (Sinclair 78); Bent (Iwelumo 78), McLeod (Dickson 81).
Subs (not used): Randolph, McCarthy.
Goals: Ambrose 51, Reid 62 pen
Booked: Sam 56 (foul on Tozer)

So at last a win under our belt but amidst all the excitement, Pards does his best to dampen us down saying "I think Stoke away is one of the tougher away games this year.”