The biggest Rugby plastic celebrated last night.

If I am to be totally honest, apart from the World Cup, Rugby and Cricket leaves me pretty cold, although last night was a triumph for honesty, sportsmanship and real courage. Rugby is a brutal game and along with Boxing is the closest to a Gladiatorial contest without using the sword. American football with its customary body armour reminds me of Rollarball, where you can take out a player even though he hasn't got the ball.
This is the beauty of Football you don't have to be muscle bound to be good at it. You will not see anyone the size of an Owen or Shaun Wright-Phillips on any senior Rugby field. My Tennis Club shares its facilities with a Rugby Club and I'm yet to see any weedy player about to do battle on the field. Even the shorties are built like brick houses and I wouldn't want to mess with them. When I was younger and playing football our club was affiliated to Beckenhan Rugby Club and annually there was a Six a side Rugby tournament and one particular year we were invited to enter a team. Being well over six feet I was one of the chosen six and the first match was against Beckenham's first team . In the first minute, by some fluke we managed to get the ball which was passed on to me to run as fast as I could to score a try and amazingly convert. When I did get the ball I think I broke the 100 metre record as I have never been so shit scared. Having scored a try, the opposition went ballistic and the next time I received the ball I couldn't walk for a week as I was clattered from all angles. Scared the life out of me and a few years later I was quite relieved when my son decided Rugby was not for him. All sport is wonderful apart from darts, for fitness, so I am not knocking Rugby, but there are several serious injuries every year on the field, normally involving a collapsed scrum, resulting in broken necks.
Watching Rugby and Boxing does bring out that animal survival instinct, which I suppose is why the human race is still around.
Bring on the final I cant wait.

Scotland 3 Ukraine 1

England's match was incredibly boring, so it was a delight to switch over and watch a very passionate Scotland beat a talented Ukraine team.
My dream would be to for Scotland and England to reach the Euro finals.

West Brom away live on Sky

In my opinion this is going to be the toughest game of the season as I am predicting Watford to slip away . This extra match, live on Sky will mean our overseas supporters will be able to tune in and be assured of uninterrupted coverage . The way they have described how they listen to the action, could look something like this .
Chicago and NYA struggle once again to keep up with the match day news.

Barnsley the best team to visit the Valley this season

However much I want my team to win, Barnsley without doubt, are the best team to visit the Valley this season. Talking to the guy next to me at the match, he agreed , how well organised Barnsley's back four are and in midfield they closed down Reid and ZZ very quickly and the goalkeeper was cool and calm, just what you would expect from a German keeper. At times they played attractive football without producing any punishing attacks. The local paper has an article on Weaver and one of the things he hates is being left out of the action for long periods, well Saturday must have been a nightmare for him , especially in the second half, he hardly touched the ball. There has been many Blog match reports, so I have a couple of points to add. Sitting in the East Stand I had a direct view of the second half miss by Ambrose and boy it was a bad one. Unlike the later incredible miss by Barnsley's Mostto, Ambrose did not even have a goalkeeper to beat as he had tangled with two prostrate injured defenders . With almost an open goal, why he chose to hit the ball with the outside of his boot I will never know. The second half Charlton really dominated and if Barnsley had not had such a strong back four and very competent keeper, we could have won by three or four. Barnsley will be a hard team to beat this season and will upset some of the top teams, they look strong play-off contenders.

Weaver 6 Looks more and more confident had no chance with the goal.
Powell 8 At 38 as good as any player on the park.
Fortune 7 Missed him when he went off and a good round of applause will have boosted his confidence with the fans, looked ill rather than injured (Just lay off the Cobras and Currie on a Friday night as I can certainly vouch for, you dont feel good on a Saturday morning .
Bougherra 7 Good game again, obviously a home player.
Mills 8 Surely to be signed permanently in January.
ZZ 7 Clever player what a good buy and I have noticed we have a few Chinese supporters attending.
Reid 8 Is he falling in love with Charlton!
Semedo 8 In my eyes he can do no wrong at the moment.
Ambrose 6 Frustrating
Varney 6 Completely marked out of the game
Iwelumo 8 Player of the year so far
Sodje 7 Had a good game once he settled down.
Thomas 7 Added danger and if he is towing the line deserves to start ahead of Ambrose.
Tordorov 7 He should play every second half.

Crowd 5 Felt very foolish singing Come on you Reds on my own.

Were Facing 46 Cup-Finals

There is no doubt about it, we are the team that everyone wants to beat. Hull being the latest bully boys to try and muscle us out of playing our naturally skillful football. Every away fixture seems to bring controversy and the home team fans expecting Charlton, to turn it on for 90 minutes but at the same forgetting that we are the away team. What a great result last night after extra-time , Gawd all mighty how long was I staring at the live results on Sky Plus. For a moment I checked back on teletext to see if there had been a delayed Kick-Off. There will be many more rainy cold physical Tuesday tests to come and last night we passed with flying colours.
Looking forward to Saturday when we entertain Barnsley, who I have
always had a soft spot for, as there another plucky team from Yorkshire.

COME ON YOU REDS
Steve Brown on the right helps celebrate last nights win in style as Danny Mills holds the cup aloft

Where is a CMAH when you need one

A bit disappointed on Saturday especially whilst driving and listening to Radio London, the news had come through of a late equaliser and even more galling is with two minutes to go Iwelomo missed an absolute sitter . Where is a Clive Mendonca, or a Andy Hunt, when you need them. Chris had a good game by all accounts, but Pardew has stated today, that he should have won the game for us. We are creating lots of chances that must be taken and at the moment we have not got a prolific goalscorer, maybe Varney, once match fit will start banging in the goals . Iwelumo has earned his place as a first name on the team sheet, but he is not an out and out goalscorer.

COVENTRY

My Mum was born in Coventry in 1929 and lived there, until she joined the Wrens as a 16 year old towards the end of the Second World War. Rumour has it that my Great Grandfather who I never met was a wealthy Cotton Mill Merchant who also speculated on the Stock Markets. Unfortunately, he lost a fortune in the Wall Street Crash leaving him a broken man, which he never recovered from . Coventry City in the twenties and thirties, which is hard to believe now, was one of the most beautifully preserved Medieval cities in the country. It was also the Industrial Heart of British Industry and unfortunately Coventry became Germany's target number one during the Second World War. The RAF bombed Munich on 8th November 1940 . Munich was the Birthplace of the Nazi Party and Hitler sought revenge and unfortunately chose Coventry. What became known as the Coventry Blitz started on 14th November 1940 and the old city of Coventry was destroyed by 500 German Bombers. My Mother who had been evacuated to her Aunts house some miles from Coventry recalled that terrible night to us when we were Kids and I have always been fascinated by the horror of the event. 4,330 homes destroyed 554 men women and children were killed 865 injured . Many people were burnt beyond recognition. Most of the Medieval City was destroyed and the result of that was, Coventry was used as a forerunner to the Modern City -Yuk!.