Reflections from the canal towpath

Senior match analyst Hooch the Pooch ceded his place at Saturday's game to Monty Martin in the hope that it would bring the team some luck, but he followed the game and the debate about it afterwards with considerable interest. He shared his thoughts with me in return for a walk alongside the Grand Union Canal towpath near his Long Itchington, Warwicks home.

Hooch thinks that the referee was inefficient rather than biased, otherwise he would have ruled Charlton's goal offside. However, Hoyte's foul on Lisbie was much worse than he looked at the time when the referee blithely ruled 'play on' while Lisbie was down. The impact of the foul on JFH may have been blunted by the somewhat theatrical way in which he went down. Hooch growled that he could not see how the referee missed the penalty given that he had a clear line of sight. However, if we had equalised, Arsenal would have probably stepped up another gear.

What led Hooch to bark furiously was the fact that the van Persie incident was not shown on Match of the Day, nor were Dowie's comments on it, a clear case of selective omission.

Hooch listened to 606 and Alan Green commented with some surprise that Charlton fans were not at all despondent. However, the team is playing well (with the exception of the last half hour at Villa) and the results will come.