Ball boy gets Silver Bone

A perplexed ball boy went home from the City of Manchester stadium on Saturday with a Silver Bone presented to him by senior match analyst Hooch the Pooch. Having decided that none of the Charlton players was worthy of an award, the barking mad canine selected the left side ball boy on the recommendation of south coast Addick Clare Cole. He was given the award for 'consistently putting the ball into play and always finding his man', qualities that the Charlton players sadly lacked. Deano was partially at fault for one of the goals and arguably could have saved another. When the goalkeeper concedes four goals in two successive away matches, questions have to be asked. They certainly have to be asked of Feesh whose slow reactions caused problems again. Fortune did make some good interventions, but his overall performance was not impressive and Tracy from Dartford even suggested him as a Hiss of the Match candidate. Hreidarsson was one of the better Charlton players in the sense that his performance was error free, but it was in no way decisive either. Young blotted his copybook with a howler in front of goal. Kishishev has been boosted by some fans recently with suggestions that Holland would find it hard to regain his place when he is fit again, but although he showed plenty of verve, his contribution lacked finesse and it was no surprise when he was wuthdrawn. Murphy missed a great chance to equalise and his performance was generally poor and disappointing. The match simply didn't give Rommedahl a chance to shine. Euell had something of an off day with a rather lazy performance. Jeffers simply didn't get the service to show what he could do. Lisbie did his best to drive the City defence and had some good runs forward but he lacked any support and was snuffed out by defenders crowding in on him. Johansson tried to make a difference when he came on, looked as if he wanted to be out there and had some good runs down the right. El Karkouri brought a new solidity to the defence and it remains a mystery why he doesn't start. Konchesky also displayed spirit and skill.

Juneau the Soccer Cat has given the Hiss of the Match to Manchester City Council. Brian Cole parked up in area which had no signs visible (and we made a careful search) declaring it to be reserved for residents with parking permits, but when we returned to the car there was a parking ticket on it.

Crowd rating: Charlton's away support is falling away, although obviously performances like this one don't help. There were seven to eight hundred there and they did their best to lift the team in spite of the poor performance on the pitch. One sign that it is an authentic Charlton crowd is a rendition of 'goodbye horse'. Two of the best chants were 'We can see you sneaking out' as the Mancs started to stream out before the end and 'You still won't sing "We're winning four-nil"'. 7/10.