Blews preview
Ten years ago on 14th January 1996 Charlton beat Birmingham City in a seven goal thriller at St.Andrews, the match being shown live on television, although I missed the excitement as I was en route to Barcelona. A penalty was awarded against Humphreys after 23 seconds for tripping Donowa and Hunt put the ball away for Blews. An Edwards own goal provided an equaliser for the Addicks, before Grant (36), Robinson (44) and Leaburn (70) seemed to put the match beyond doubt. But Edwards (75) and Forsyth (81) brought Blews back into the match for a tense finale with Charlton 4-3 victors, their first win there since the 1938-9 season.
Police did not attend inside or outside the ground. A number of windows in supporters coaches were smashed, including the one carrying the Junior Reds. The Charlton programme at the next home game noted that many of the Addickted were frightened and intimidated after the game by home supporters.
Tomorrow's match is also a needle affair, although hopefully one that will not lead to any trouble even with all the Blews ticket allocation sold out. Our record at home against Birmingham in the Premiership is lost, drawn, won, but rarely has it been so vital that we take all three points from them.
A piece from Chris Powell in this morning's Metro was about how important it will be for him, if picked, to keep Pennant quiet. Quality crosses from him (and Lazaridis), for Heskey and Sutton, against our centre halves could cause us trouble, although Heskey is mercurial and I don't really rate Sutton.
The referee will be Graham Poll. At one time the appearance of the Thing from Planet Tring was like a clap of doom, but he seems to have sorted out his methane-oxygen breathing mix and is now one of the better referees in the Premiership.
Birmingham have apparently not offered enough to secure the signature of Jason Euell, while the news that JJ is not going on loan to Millwall rules out what seems to be a scarcely credible move. However, there was little sign of dancing in the streets of SE7 when it was announced.
Most of the attention of the Addickted is focused on the fate of Danny Murphy with conspiracy theorists having a field day. It will, nevertheless, be interesting to see if he is in the team tomorrow - as I would like him to be.
Police did not attend inside or outside the ground. A number of windows in supporters coaches were smashed, including the one carrying the Junior Reds. The Charlton programme at the next home game noted that many of the Addickted were frightened and intimidated after the game by home supporters.
Tomorrow's match is also a needle affair, although hopefully one that will not lead to any trouble even with all the Blews ticket allocation sold out. Our record at home against Birmingham in the Premiership is lost, drawn, won, but rarely has it been so vital that we take all three points from them.
A piece from Chris Powell in this morning's Metro was about how important it will be for him, if picked, to keep Pennant quiet. Quality crosses from him (and Lazaridis), for Heskey and Sutton, against our centre halves could cause us trouble, although Heskey is mercurial and I don't really rate Sutton.
The referee will be Graham Poll. At one time the appearance of the Thing from Planet Tring was like a clap of doom, but he seems to have sorted out his methane-oxygen breathing mix and is now one of the better referees in the Premiership.
Birmingham have apparently not offered enough to secure the signature of Jason Euell, while the news that JJ is not going on loan to Millwall rules out what seems to be a scarcely credible move. However, there was little sign of dancing in the streets of SE7 when it was announced.
Most of the attention of the Addickted is focused on the fate of Danny Murphy with conspiracy theorists having a field day. It will, nevertheless, be interesting to see if he is in the team tomorrow - as I would like him to be.
posted by Wyn Grant at 7:32 PM
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