Charlton v County (League Cup, Round Two)

No pics for this one - Martin/Caz didn't travel - report by Imposter

So down to Charlton then. Quite annoying draw this one – quite a decent team who could knock us out easily, yet not big enough to be a glamour tie – and still requiring a night trip to South London. Plus we were apparently very close to getting some much bigger names in the draw.

Still, it was a hardy bunch of souls who congregated in the Peel around lunch-time/early afternoon. Departure time having been put back to 1:45 as we were merging with the Fingerpost for this one, and going at their departure time.

Soon enough though, the Fingerpost flyer flew in (as flyers are wont to do) and we were all aboard – Except for one absent-minded old fellow who’d recently come out of hospital after some major operation (kidney? IIRC?) and somehow managed to forget his vital medication. Bizarre – Wallet? Check. Phone? Check. Medication? Nah, that’s just the stuff that keeps me alive – won’t need that. Some quick phone calls and a visit from his (son? Carer?) later, the old gent had his medication and we were off.

Now a long and rather boring journey ensued – for various reasons there were some roadworks or delays of some kind, so we took the scenic route through Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, and back in towards London. Where things went very wrong, we negotiated our way into London, down the Blackwall tunnel – passing/seeing a few South London landmarks – oh look, there’s the Gherkin, only to hit traffic of large proportions in Greenwich itself. By which time it was 7pm… a slow trundle through the rush hour traffic over the bridge ensued – soon we were sensing the ground, we rode right up to it, and right round looking for somewhere to stop or park – with no help from anyone so it seemed, and ended up going round what was at least once – if not twice.

Eventually we parked up and hot-footed off the bus to the nearest pub. It was 7:25-7:30 by this time and there were a lot of thirsty Peelers! – The nearest pub, which name escapes me, looked like an alright place – although they seemed to have run out of practically everything. Couldn’t see any pumps for bitter (although they could have been round the other side of the bar) nor folks drinking bitter – so a pint of Grolsch it was. This was drunk fairly quickly, as I was reasonably anxious not to miss any of the action.

Off to the ground then – well, well, well – Charlton operate a tickets only policy, necessitating a good queue of County fans who had planned on paying –“on the gate”, to a ticket office with only one bloke manning it. Great! After a slightly anxious wait – worrying that kick off might be missed – money was paid, ticket was given, entrance was sought and found. Then it was clear, Charlton had slightly underestimated the support from County – a good five minutes before kick-off and the programme seller was packing up having sold out – and I hadn’t seen any outside the ground, near the pub or where we parked or anything. Would have liked to have got a programme but hey-ho.

Into the stand then – and like some folks had said, it was literally a valley – the back of the stand was more or less level with the path and concourse behind it, the bottom of it was effectively 15 feet below. The other three stands looked pretty darn good – the only snag on this one was the ruddy great pillar right in the middle of the stand, which I somehow found myself very close to. 8 or 9 thousand hardy Charlton fans had come out, and were opposed by an even hardier 4 or 5 hundred County fans.

Presently the players came out and we were off!

Both sides had some chances and County made it clear they were not going to roll over – although it became apparent Charlton had a bit more tactical nous, experience and energy about them. Not surprising given they are not only two divisions above us, but also have the luxury of parachute payments from the Prem, and are one of the, if not the favourites for the Championship title.

Soon enough it was Charlton scoring first – Todorov sending a ball across the goal from their right (our left as we looked) and into the opposite top corner. Looked pretty good actually. But damn – we were 1 down already.

But not to worry, County came back strong – but couldn’t quite seem to get it together in the final third – and Charlton were looking worryingly good on the break. Then five minutes before came the joking point. McLeod goes into the box, there’s a bit of argy bargy, McLeod falls over. Was he pushed? Did he dive? Six of one, half a dozen of the other is the answer. Maybe a slight nudge, but then he definitely made the most of it – the referee blew for a penalty. Up steps McLeod to take it – the referee blows – McLeod strikes to his left (our right) – Logan makes a fantastic dive and pushes it away out to our right. Ecstasy from the County fans! Get in! – But what, the linesman’s flagging – the referee wants a retake?! What for (Logan coming off his line apparently – which when the saved the ball practically on the line is pretty impressive – come forward, then do backwards sideways dive!) Up stepped their skipper – Korean or Chinese bloke – predictably opts for the opposite corner – Logan again makes a great dive – and for a split second it looks like he’s done it again! But no, this time the kick was too strong and Charlton have their 2-0 advantage.

At which point the County fans made their feelings known towards the referee and towards Charlton as well, whilst the Charlton fans actually wake up – and make some noise – although not for long – and by half-time it is County who are being cheered off more loudly.

Half-time, spent chatting with folks and giving up on a pint of badly pulled bitter about half-way through.

Second half then – it was action stations – County made some changes – going for a two wingers formation with Pilkington… it paid dividends as gradually we got the upper hand.  Then Proudlock’s suddenly in – he gets it, puts it in 2-1! Come on! Game on! –

Ten or so minutes later  - a ball is played across goal, after some corners and close free kicks, Elding is just waiting there to smack it in!  YES!!!  COME ON COUNTY!

Four minutes later, and it is dreamland – A ball gets paid across goal from our left (as we’re looking) to our right – annoyingly just in my blind spot from that pillar, lean to look round the pillar and who’s coming in, Blizzzzzzzaaarrrrd!!! YEEEEEEEEESSSSSS!!!   3-2!!! Come on County! Absolute bedlam on the away end now – County fans going ballistic, left right and centre, cheering, clapping, screaming, hugging each other! Real goal mental.

Unfortunately at this point, County seemed to switch off a little, and as tiredness got the better of them, Charlton came back more into it, on the counter-attack. County did have a very good opportunity with a near-post header from Proudlock that was fantastically saved – that would have been 4-2 and probably Goodnight Vienna. But Charlton tried and tried – and eventually got a free kick just outside the right hand side of our box – the player ran up to take it, and from the distance I wasn’t sure, but I think he put it round the wall – either way, it was in the back of our net – and bummer, it was 3-3.

County bravely fought back harder and harder, trying to get another opportunity to score, but were increasingly pushed back by Charlton – but the 90 minutes came and went. And a nervous County bunch looked at the board – 3 minutes. Can we hold out? By this time, the Charlton faithful were making some noise – all three stands at various times joining in with the “Red Army” chant. Charlton fought we defended ferociously, people started to accept extra time. Then Charlton got a corner, lots of bodies in the box  - a header, in the net, 4-3 Charlton. County were beaten.

A slightly shell shocked County following had to endure the cheeky Charlton fans in the stand opposite us “You’re not singing anymore!” – Cheeky gets! They only sang when it was 2-0!. But this was quickly drowned out by the appreciative County following with a “Jimmy Gannon’s Blue ‘n’ White Army” that started before full-time but continued long after, as all the County players and management staff came over to offer their thanks.

So it was a slightly bemused but reasonably happy, (well, we can concentrate more on the league, at least we didn’t get more tired from extra-time, we gave a good account of ourselves), that made their way back to various coaches.

And of we were on the long trip home. We made the usual trick of trying to go through Cambridgeshire – but here something went wrong. Different roads were closed, satnav was playing up – either way we found ourselves lost and having to double back on ourselves. This didn’t help me – as at some point during the chuntling around A-Roads of East Anglia, it became clear that I quite acutely needed to pay the sort of visit to the facilities, that ahem, should not be paid on a coach toilet. Even worse we stopped on a bridge somewhere and the drivers got out, and word went round that we were suffering a water leak. All the while I was taking my mind off my personal discomfort with Max & Paddy ironically named “Road to Nowhere” which was playing on the coach telly.

We got back on the way, and soon were on the M1 northbound – we passed one services, and after what seemed an eternity – about ten miles we pulled into another services. By this time – it was gone 1:30 – and I was quite anxious to pay this visit. So I leapt off the coach, and steamed my way towards the facilities – where I paid the visit – to quite explosive effect – indeed I’m impressed that the toilet was still standing – however it was, and after clearing up and washing the old hands – it was a much relieved Imposter that headed back to the coach. That was indeed a Welcome Break. Although gutting to notice we were still only at Watford Gap.

Soon we were on our way again – and about 2 and a half hours later – we pulled up in Edgeley – where the fun began again.

Imposter anxious to get home rings taxi firms – first off Metro – local based in Stockport, support County in terms of sponsoring matches etc… support the business that support County  etc…  - “Hello, can I have a taxi please? I’m afraid it’s a 30 minute wait at least?” – “Ah right, okay, perhaps not then.” – phoned Kingsway cabs of Didsbury (wasn’t excepting much from them, I just had the number in my phone) “It’s going to be 45 minutes at least mate” – “stuff that” (not my actual  words, but what I was thinking)… next up Lynx another number I happened to have “Sure mate, it’ll be about ten minutes” “Cool” – well ten minutes came, and went, as did 15 and twenty, and soon 30. At which point I gave up and started walking back towards the town centre – by which time it was approaching quarter to – ten to five. I decided to walk down Greek street, down the A6 – into Railway Road – down past the train station – just on the off chance, it was late enough for some early morning black cabs (it was getting to the point where I was seeing newspaper delivery men, and milkmen around) – no black cabs – so I headed on a circular route down Station Road, past grand central back to the A6 – where I decided to phone for a taxi again – by which time – the bleeding postmen were starting to trundle up to Stockport sorting office! Phoned Metro “yeah mate, it’ll be about ten minutes” – and sure enough, about 12 minutes later, up it strode – with a bemused driver, who was wondering why I was so late back – when I explained, he was less than pleased – his words being something along the lines of “and they wonder why we’re driving around with no work”. Anyway I was happier, and after a quick journey home – it was a very tired, somewhat annoyed, but ultimately satisfied Imposter that got in at 5:20 am. Quick drink and a look at the reports on Ceefax/Teletext – then bathroom ablutions and off to bed.

Would I do it again? Yes? Was it worth it? Yes?  We made a good show ourselves and found out some good stuff – i.e.… Proudlock looked excellent and we look awesome when we play two wingers.

All in all, not a bad evening/night/day/morning’s entertainment.

Imposter