Bleacher Report - Articles by Mark Ritson

Dover See Off Dartford in Entertaining Derby

Mark Ritson — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 07:07:42 -0500

Saturday 13^th December 2008

Ryman Isthmian Premier League

Dover Athletic 4 - 2 Dartford

A BATTLING performance from Dover saw off a resilient Dartford side in an entertaining Kent derby at Perrys Crabble today. Decisive goals from James Rodgers and Olly Schulz proved to be the difference in this six-goal thriller, which sees Dover maintain their title challenge, writes Mark Ritson.

Dover player-manager Andy Hessenthaler was delighted with the victory: “I think we got what we deserved just for our second half endeavour, although perhaps we should have scored more, but I was really pleased today because it was a tremendous victory.

"Everyone expects us to win every game, it adds pressure, but we played with a lot of confidence today and to go 13 points clear at the top so I’m over the moon. We knew it was going to be tough today, it really is taking every game as it comes because anything can happen, but other teams have got to play catch up.

"Our biggest pressure is maintaining the performances and keeping up this title challenge”.

Despite enjoying the majority of possession in the opening stages, Dartford created the first chance of the game when Rob Haworth headed over from six yards after good work from Jamie Day on the left.

Shortly afterwards, Lee Noble picked up a loose ball down the right before looping the ball over Dover 'keeper John Whitehouse, which saw Haworth have his downward header cleared off the line by Olly Schulz. However, the target man made amends moments later, finding himself completely unmarked to plant a powerful header past the helpless Whitehouse from close range.

On the half hour mark, Dover could have grabbed an equalising goal, as Shaun Welford went racing through down the left, despite a hint of offside, and had his cross-cum-shot cleared away at the back post.

The home side were slowly finding their rhythm and they got a deserved equaliser through Jon Wallis shortly before half-time. The midfielder found himself with space in front of him marching into the Dartford box and shot past Andy Young into the bottom left corner.

On the stroke of half-time, Dartford should have gone in front again through Jamie Coyle, but the defender headed over the bar inside the six-yard area from a deep corner.

The home side took the lead in the early stages of the second-half through Lawrence Ball, who headed home from close range from a superb Jon Wallis free-kick. But Dartford should have equalised moments later through Haworth, but the striker saw his shot rebound off the post into the hands and relief of Whitehouse.

The striker made up for the miss after seventy minutes, grabbing the final touch inside a six yard box scramble after Dover failed to clear a corner. But the equaliser was short-lived, as seconds later from kick-off, James Rodgers restored Dover’s lead, shooting past Young inside the danger area.

Olly Schulz made sure of victory in the closing stages, heading past Young at the back post from a free-kick, before Dartford defender Adam Gross was red-carded by referee Martin Yerby.

Star Man: Jon Wallis—Scored one, created one, controlled the midfield.

Entertainment Rating: 4/5

Referee: Martin Yerby

Attendance: 1,208

THIS COPY SHALL BE IN THE NON-LEAGUE PAPER ON SUNDAY AND MONDAY.

Crawley Town Back in Play-Off Contention After Emphatic Victory

Mark Ritson — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:52:54 -0500

Blue Square Premier - Saturday 6th December 2008

Crawley Town 4 - 0 Altrincham

Killeen 2,

Cook 29,

Pinault 44,

Pittman 90 (+3)

AN INSPIRED victory led by Thomas Pinault ensured that Crawley Town went back into contention for promotion with a four-goal drubbing of Altrincham, writes Mark Ritson.

Crawley's assistant manager, Paul Raynor, was delighted with the victory: "Today was a bit more like we played early season and when you’ve got Jamie Cook finishing like that he is a real handful for anybody. You only had to look at our bench today, the quality we had going forward was frightening and most of those strikers would get into any conference team. It’s not a massive squad, but there is quality."

Despite his side's inconsistency over the past month, he added: "We’ve had a blip recently, but confidence is rising and you see the result today. It was never doom and gloom, we knew there were going to be games when things haven’t gone our way, but hopefully that’s over now. If we can get everybody fit, we’ve got every chance of winning football matches and we are showing some real resilience now."

Altrincham got off to the worst possible start as Crawley took the lead through Lewis Killeen inside the opening 90 seconds. A superb delivery from Michael Malcolm on the right was spilled by ‘keeper Andy Ralph and Killeen was on hand to poke the ball home from six yards.

The away side could have equalised moments later through Chris Senior, but his shot was saved comfortably by Simon Rayner, despite a suspicion of offside.

Thomas Pinault and Dannie Bulman dominated proceedings in the midfield for Crawley early on and it was Bulman’s pass to Jamie Cook on the edge of the box that saw the former Oxford man test Ralph with a fierce drive.

Chris Giles should have extended Crawley’s lead with two good chances midway through the first half, but had headers comfortably saved as Crawley’s best player Pinault pulled the strings in midfield.

The away side offered little throughout the first half, but they could have found a way back into the match through Lee Elam and Anthony Danlyk, but Rayner in the Crawley goal was rather a spectator in this one-sided affair.

The home side extended their lead after half an hour through Jamie Cook, after Malcolm again sent in a teasing cross towards the back post and Cook stole a march on his marker to volley in from close range.

Alty’s problems went from bad to worse on the stroke of half-time as the impressive Pinault grabbed Crawley’s third with a thunderous shot arriving in the box after good work again by Cook.

A comfortable performance from the home side saw them grab their fourth of the match in the closing stages through Jon-Paul Pittman. The striker had been brought down inside the area in injury time and despite having the resulting penalty saved, he made amends seconds later as he powered home a header from an Isaiah Rankin cross.

Man of the Match: Thomas Pinault

Entertainment Rating: 4/5

Attendance: 978

Referee: Marvin Thompson

THIS COPY WILL BE IN THE NON-LEAGUE PAPER ON SUNDAY AND MONDAY.

The Downfall Of Charlton Athletic Since 2006

Mark Ritson — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:22:06 -0500

Ten Years of Greatness Ruined by One Fatal Mistake

I'm hurting at present, I really am. What is happening to my football club is just despairing, and I just don't know if we will ever achieve the heights we found ourselves in for six glorious seasons in The Premier League. It was actually seven, but the last one resulted in our relegation.

I would have taken Alan Pardew any day of the week instead of Iain Dowie, but the fate of the club had already been effectively sealed before Boxing Day 2006. Pardew was announced as our new manager that day after disastrous spells under Dowie and Les Reed that season. Despite signs of a possible great escape with a few good results, ''Super Al" unfortunately could not save us.

I still believe to this day, and I am sure many supporters agree with me, that the board made their only mistake over the past decade in appointing Iain Dowie. How can a club grow under Alan Curbishley, reach the Premiership and set a benchmark for all promoted sides from The Championship, by then appointing a manager with little managerial experience at a high level?

It was the worst decision in the clubs history. They should have taken their time in appointing a successor to "Curbs", because in reality, we are "the house that Alan Curbishley built". The man is a legend at Charlton Athletic and regarded as our best ever manager, alongside Jimmy Seed.

In appointing Iain Dowie, the problems began almost instantly. Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan, issued a writ against us and Dowie, and hired a representative to force his way into the press conference which unveiled the new manager. It was not something we were used to at the club. We are not linked to trouble or controversy.

The real problems began to flow as the new manager was given the largest amount of funds given to any manager in Charlton's history.

What a costly mistake indeed.

Dowie then went and bought (and overspent) absolute rubbish trying to "strengthen" the current squad. Wasting £2m on Djimi Traore (what a nightmare he was), £3.75m on an unknown centre back called Souleymane Diawara (another useless buy), and persuading an un-fit and money grabbing Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink to join us on a free transfer (he scored no more than five goals for us on £30k a week).

While a loan move for Scott Carson was fairly satisfactory, his only decent buy coming in the form of Andy Reid for £4m.

The rest they say is history, but I believe that this was the start of the clubs downfall, plus causing unrest by sacking Dowie and appointing assistant manager, Les Reed. Reed is one of the nicest guys in football, but he just wasn't a football manager.

I do not want to talk about last season in The Championship too much, because it had its high and lows, and we did play many teams off the park, but we were just not able to match some teams physically.

There would be games where we would outplay the opposition, but they would get in our faces and scrap for a draw or even a win. It seems a shame that we ended up in 11th position last season, because I have some good memories of matches, especially in the early part of the season.

Fast forward to a traumatic season at present, and every Charlton fan is just baffled at how things have just gone from bad to worse. Pardew, don't get me wrong, is a good guy and I never disliked him, but something was just not right.

He would talk a good game, but I equally blame the players. There many players in our squad that have played in the Premier League, or had experience in The Championship, but they just haven't performed so far this season. I really do not know why, I can't explain it, but something needed freshening up.

After a 5-2 home defeat at the weekend to Sheffield United, it was the final straw for the fans, and ultimately, the board. Losing 3-1 at home to Barnsley on Nov. 1 was embarrassing enough, because that just shouldn't happen, but the fans had lost patience this time. It really was quite disgraceful, but upsetting.

Never again, shall we see the likes of the Kinsella's, Stuart's, Robinson's, Brown's, Mendonca's, Rufus' and Kiely's, because footballers of their breed are just very rare to find now.

Society and football has changed so much in ten years, and I believe that the work ethic has disappeared from some clubs. It's all about looking good on the ball individually and not remembering that you have a club to represent and do your best for.

That might surprise some of you, but Charlton have not had ANY team work or work ethic since the departure of Curbishley. That is what we gained a reputation for—grinding out hard-earned victories, but producing excellent displays against less fancied opposition (apart from Cup competitions).

Charlton became an established Premier League side, and every side promoted would look at us to model themselves on. It was definitely something to be proud of. Football is a funny game, where you have to expect the unexpected, but consequences can happen ever so quickly as well.

I was definitely happy to finish mid-table every season in the Premier League, it gave us extra stability and if we had stayed there another season, the new money injection would have pushed us on even further I believe.

We find ourselves in a very uncomfortable position at the moment. Apparently we are "in debt," but I do know finances are tight. The drop from the top flight to The Championship is enormous despite receiving these parachute payments, and a shiver tingles down my spine when I think about the players we have lost, just to keep us afloat.

It could get worse in January, but then again, some players like Darren Ambrose, who is on loan at Ipswich Town could give us a million or two. Actually, £2m is way too much for a player that just has not delivered in his time with us since 2005.

So, who will be our new manager? Alan Curbish..........ley?

Well, many of the fans want a return for the messiah of SE7, and none more so than myself. Although this time he would be making a return to us in a fashion he would never have expected. It would be like returning to his house after a two-and-a-half year vacation and seeing what a mess the previous tenants had done to his place.

I would love a return for Curbs, I really would, but can the board pull it off and make it an amazing early Christmas present for the fans?

Some pundits are quashing talk of a return, but what do they know, they know NOTHING about the club, and until Curbishley comes out officially and says he isn't interested, that is when I will stop believing.

Until then, be optimistic about his return, but I am guessing it is whether the club can afford him back, after a reported £1.6m pay-off to Pardew, with £1m of that owed inside the next two weeks! Who believes the papers anyway?

If Curbishley came back, he would still have a huge task on his hands, but then whoever comes in has a job to get us back up the table. I really like the idea of Billy Davies coming in.

He knows the league and has great managerial skills, and I was impressed with what he did at Preston. He turned us down in fact when Curbishley left in 2006, but I am hoping that it could be a different story this time around. Other names are being put forward such as Gus Poyet and Sam Allardyce—I wish people would wake up to reality, we don't want them let alone afford them!

My ideal partnership is Curbishley having Mark Kinsella, our current reserve-team coach and Charlton legend, alongside him. Otherwise I would pull out all the stops to bring Billy Davies to the club, because there are not that many good managers suited to us available.

I just hope the board makes the right decision this time. They made a hasty decision last time with Dowie, and despite everyone wanting the new man to come in as soon as possible, I would rather the board took their time and looked at everyone's CV (even mine, haha).

The new manager needs to know what he is dealing with straight away, a club that was once a well respected Premier League side, with a fantastic fan base with excellent family and community values, but to get the players playing as a hard-working unit again. That is what I want, to see players proud to wear the shirt of a well-respected club, and to get us back to the Premier League.

That may not happen this season, well it won't, or next season, or the season after, but one day we will be back in the Premier League, because after all of the effort and hard-work during the late 90's and the early new century, no one deserves it better than the people that work and have worked at the club since the Curbishley era.

It is a sad and pressing time for everyone connected to the club, but these things happen in football and we just have to deal with it to the best of our ability. I urge all the supporters to stick together, go to as many games as possible and not to argue on chat forums or in person.

We all want the best for the club, so for now we just need to back Phil Parkinson and the current squad by going to QPR tonight and getting a good result before playing Southampton on Saturday.

Roman Pavlyuchenko Strike Lifts Spurs Out Of Relegation Zone with 1-0 Win

Mark Ritson — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:20:54 -0500

FA Premier League - Sunday 23rd November 2008

Tottenham Hotspur 1 - 0 Blackburn Rovers

ROMAN PAVLYUCHENKO maintained Tottenham's recent revival under Harry Redknapp with an early strike against ten-man Blackburn at White Hart Lane, writes Mark Ritson.

After suffering a slight blip last weekend with defeat away at Fulham, Harry Redknapp's side have clawed their way out of the relegation zone for the first time this season.

Pavlyuchenko partnered Darren Bent up front, and opened the scoring after nine minutes when Aaron Lennon supplied the Russian to strike past ex-Tottenham goalkeeper, Paul Robinson.

And he nearly could have had a second with a glancing header from a David Bentley free-kick, only to see the ball crash back off the post.

The home side continued to show a new breed of confidence as Spurs' all-English midfield dominated this match from start to finish, notably through Tom Huddlestone and Lennon.

Rovers boss Paul Ince has not had the best of starts to his managerial reign at Ewood Park, and his sides chances were dealt with a further blow minutes remaining before half-time, as Martin Olsson saw red for his second bookable offence.

Heurelho Gomes, who has come under much criticism in recent matches, dropped Rovers' first corner and was never convincing throughout. Even the home fans cheered ironically when he did make a clean catch. In all fairness the Brazilian stopper did not have much to do all game.

Spurs continued to play attacking and flowing football, as Aaron Lennon was a constant menace to Blackburn's full-backs, whilst David Bentley, playing against his former side, was in superb form delivering some wonderful crosses for Bent and Pavlyuchenko.

Blackburn offered little going forward and one has to wonder whether Paul Ince can turn things around at a club who found stability under Mark Hughes' time in charge, as Spurs should have won this match by more than just the one goal.

Rovers now sit second-bottom in the Premier League without a win in eight games, whilst another victory for Spurs see them leap up into 14th position as Harry Redknapp looks to make an assault on the top six.

Dover Suffer Collin Blow in Hard Fought Victory

Mark Ritson — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 23:33:01 -0500

English Non-League Football

Ryman Premier League - Saturday 15th November 2008

Dover Athletic 2 - 1 Heybridge Swifts

Two superb strikes from Alan Pouton and Jerahl Hughes ensured Dover continued their fine form at the top of the league on Saturday.

Andy Hessenthaler's side dominated against ten-man Heybridge from start to finish in a match that was one-sided throughout, but they were nearly made to pay for not taking their chances in the first half.

Hessenthaler thought it was going to be one of those days, but was happy his side came through to victory. He said:

"We did what we are good at, we kept going at 0-1 down and it took a wonderful strike from Adam Pouton to get what we deserved.

"We had so much of the ball, but credit to the boys because it's not easy when you play teams like Heybridge, as we're top and they're bottom".

The home side took the game to Heybridge as early as the first minute, when captain John Keister swivelled past his marker forcing a good save from Ollie Morris-Saunders, whilst top goalscorer Frannie Collin was looking to add to his ten goals this season with a couple of early chances.

Minutes before the end of the first half, Heybridge were reduced to ten men after a crude challenge from Mitchell Nelson on Collin. The goalscoring ace was stretchered off and is extremely doubtful for Tuesday's trip to Sutton Utd.

The away side stunned the home crowd taking the lead from a free-kick through Robbie King after the break, their third attempt at goal all game, but Dover continued to play the better football.

Just when the home sides' frustrations were beginning to show, a half clearance by the Heybridge defence from a corner fell to Pouton outside the box, who crashed the ball home from a full 25-yards.

They got the vital winner just moments later, when excellent hold-up play by Jon Wallis on the edge of the area gave Hughes time and space to rifle a shot past Morris-Sanders and ease any worries from the home dugout.

Tottenham-Liverpool: Spurs Too Strong for Benitez Youngsters

Mark Ritson — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:02:54 -0500

Carling Cup Fourth Round, Wednesday, Nov. 12 2008

Tottenham Hotspur 4-2 Liverpool

Two goals each from Roman Pavlyuchenko and Frazier Campbell continued Tottenham's revival under Harry Redknapp against an inexperienced Liverpool side.

A lively start to the match saw the home side dominate proceedings, with Aaron Lennon and Jamie O'Hara causing mayhem to the Liverpool defence as Pavlyuchenko and Campbell both went close.

The home side's dominance was rewarded with a three-goal blitz in the space of six minutes before half-time. This saw Pavlyuchenko fire past Diego Cavalieri, before Campbell scored a quick-fire double to send the hosts into a comfortable lead.

Liverpool were given a lifeline minutes into the second half, as Damien Plessis rose to head past Heurelho Gomes from a corner. But Spurs restored their three-goal advantage minutes later when Pavlyuchenko grabbed his second with an easy tap-in after a strong run from Didier Zokora.

Sami Hyypia reduced the deficit again just after the hour mark, heading into an empty net after Gomes flapped at a corner (not for the first time this season). The away side enjoyed a greater amount of possession midway through the half before Gomes was carried off due to a head injury, resulting in a debut for ex-Real Madrid goalkeeper Cesar.

The hosts could have suffered another blow inside the final 10 minutes after Gareth Bale looked to have brought down Phillip Degen for a clear penalty, but the cup holders held on for a memorable victory.

Harry Redknapp extends his unbeaten run to six games.

Star Man: Aaron Lennon is back to his best and was a constant threat to Liverpool all evening.

Referee: Mike Riley

Race to The Premiership Review

Mark Ritson — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:39:40 -0400

The Championship Review - 10 games to go

So, come on, hands up all those that thought Bristol City would be top of The Championship with 10 games to go, and three points clear? Do I see one hand, two, or maybe none...nope no one would ever have expected the side that came up from League One last season to be in touching distance of reaching the promised land.

The three teams that came down last season, Watford, Sheffield Utd and Charlton, were clear favourites to bounce back, alongside West Bromwich Albion. Charlton had been in the Premier League for several years, whilst the likes of Watford and Sheffield Utd had been for no more than 3 years between them since 1992. This season we have seen teams such as Bristol City and Stoke City make surprise surges for the top two automatic promotion places, with the likes of Charlton, Watford and West Brom all inside the play-off places.

But, can we really see these two clubs in the Premier League surviving? I thought Derby would struggle this season, but Bristol and Stoke giving it a go...I think they would be wasting their time to be honest. No disrespect at all, what they have done this season has made the league more exciting and gives hope to all clubs aiming for the Premier League.

What worries me is that the likes of Charlton and Watford can probably survive another season of paying high wages and keeping hold of their best players, but West Brom failed to gain promotion at the first attempt from their relegation in 2006, so will they be able to hang onto the likes of Kevin Phillips, Jonathan Greening, Zoltan Gera if they dont go up this time around?

We have seen it with Leicester City and Southampton, two clubs that were in the Premier League for many seasons, and now after competing in the Championship for over three years since relegation, they now struggle in mid-table mediocrity, selling off their prized assets to survive. Some say this league is ''real'' football, but in terms of financial support, it is rather dismal.

I for one, honestly hope that the likes of West Brom, Charlton and Watford can bounce back to the Premier League come May 4th. I feel that Stoke and Bristol City have done extremely well this season, surprising just about everyone in the country and even their own supporters, but they would be an ''embarassment'' to the Premier League, another couple of whipping boys for the bigger clubs. When I say ''embarassment'', it's not in a bad way towards the club itself, I mean in terms of being able to compete. They just won't...

So, with less than 10 games remaining, who will be playing Premiership football come August? I can see West Brom taking advantage of their two games in hand over the top two, and cutting the lead at the top to just a point, and eventually going up automatically. As champions, well, possibly, but this league has thrown up so many surprises this season. I would like to see one of either Stoke City or Bristol City go up, not both, and despite an inconsistent run of form, Charlton Athletic, who I think will win the play-offs.

Being a Charlton supporter, I have to be optimistic, and I think we will overturn all the odds stacked against us after our inconsistent form. A possible play-off final date against the Palace of Crystals, well, that would be jolly nice! But in all seriousness, Charlton are a well respected club, and everyone knows what happened after Alan Curbishley left after 15 years as manager. It was a sad day when we were relegated, but I am hopeful we will be back playing the Premier League like we deserve to be.

The league will have more twists and turns, guaranteed, so expect the table not to look like it does now come May 4th. I think we will see a couple of surprises in who reaches the play-offs, but I am hoping the top two places will be different to what it is now.

Oh and of course, all Charlton fans, pencil in May 23rd, because that is probably the Play-Off Final date at Wem-ber-ley!

My end-of-season table prediction:

1. West Brom

2. Bristol City

3. Watford

4. Charlton Athletic

5. Stoke City

6. Plymouth Argyle

Charlton Athletic-Bristol City: City Prove Title Credentials With Valley Draw

Mark Ritson — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:37:57 -0500

The Championship

Tuesday March 4, 2008

Charlton Athletic 1—1 Bristol City

On a cold, windy evening in southeast London, league leaders Bristol City proved their worth in the Championship with a credible point at The Valley Tuesday night.

Not one person would have predicted that Bristol City would be leading the chase for the Premiership at this stage of the season, and come May 4 we may well see them reach the top flight at the first attempt after winning promotion from League One last year.

For Charlton it was another two points dropped, as their inconsistency again showed after an excellent display at Sheffield Utd on Saturday.

Alan Pardew stuck with the same team that won in Sheffield, and after the first 45 minutes you would have bet on Charlton to close the gap to just four points at the top. They got off to the perfect start on eight minutes when a cross-driven pass was flicked on by Chris Iwelumo into the path of Darren Ambrose, who drove the ball into the bottom corner.

Goals galore perhaps? Or maybe not. Tense ending? Possibly. Keep reading...

Charlton got into their passing rhythm and took the game to the league leaders, notably on 15 minutes when Zheng Zhi, the ''fifth best player in the Football League'' according to Four Four Two magazine, beat two players down the right and fed a weighted pass to Iwelumo. His shot was deflected away for a corner.

From the corner kick, Ambrose sent in a delightful cross, but Sam Sodje and Paddy McCarthy were unable to make a connection with the ball.

Bristol City came back into the game after half an hour played when the well-travelled Dele Adebola fed Jamie McAllister down the left and his cross was cleared away inside the six-yard area. You could see why they were at the top of the league, as they started to play some decent build-up play. Manager Gary Johnson has obviously got them playing for each other as an organised unit.

On 35 minutes Charlton should have been 2-0 up. A cross from Luke Varney was half cleared away by the City defence, and the ball fell for an unmarked Jerome Thomas 10 yards out. He somehow scuffed his shot way wide of the target. On another day, or another day in training, it would have gone in nine times out of 10. A goal from the home side may have proved pivotal in the outcome of the match, but it just wasn't to be.

As the first half came to a close, Charlton had edged it in terms of possession and overall play, but you still felt that Bristol City had a chance to get back on level terms.

And yes, they were a different side in the second half. They showed the Valley faithful and the Championship just why they are leading the pack. Crisp passing and movement off the ball started to pose threats to the Charlton rearguard for the first time in the match, as on 55 minutes a neat one-two from Marvin Elliot and Michael McIndoe nearly set up substitute Darren Byfield, but his shot went narrowly over the crossbar.

City came forward more and were showing a completely different side to their first half performance. On the hour mark, McIndoe held the ball up well on the edge of the 18-yard box and released Lee Johnson down the right, who found Byfield unmarked at the back post, but Greg Halford cleared the danger away for a corner.

On 62 minutes they got a deserved equaliser. After Darren Ambrose needlessly conceded a corner, the ball was floated into the near post and captain Jamie McCombe rose above everyone else to head past Nicky Weaver. It was no more than City had deserved and it was a kick up the backside for Charlton who had failed to carry their first-half momentum into the second period.

With a vocal crowd behind them, the home side responded with some flair down the left wing from Jerome Thomas, who teased two City defenders and delivered a telling ball into the path of Luke Varney. His effort was blocked and cleared to safety.

It was the spark they had been lacking and Pardew decided to throw on loan star, Scott Sinclair. He wasn't quite a star for the remaining 15 minutes or so, as the Chelsea youngster is perhaps a little too over-rated in my opinion, despite being only just 18 years old.

Sinclair had trouble getting into the game at the weekend and it was no different here, as time and time again he either lost the ball or was out muscled by his opponent. Personally I can see why Chelsea want to loan him out because he is definitely not the finished article by all means and comes with a reputation from a big club, scoring a wonder goal in the FA Cup last season. I hope he proves me wrong.

With time ticking away Charlton became edgy and so did their supporters, as City continued to frustrate them. On 80 minutes, Byfield stole a march on McCarthy in the Charlton defence and, as he was about to strike the ball from six yards, McCarthy made amends with a superb block tackle.

However, City came closest to scoring a winner on 85 minutes when a free kick 20 yards out was beautifully directed over the wall. With Weaver scrambling, the ball cannoned back off the crossbar, and luckily for Charlton, Zheng Zhi was on hand to clear the ball away.

In the last few minutes McIndoe and Byfield combined well to bamboozle the Charlton defence inside their own penalty box, only for McCarthy to steal in once again, but his clearance was inches past his own goal. It would have been a great finish as a striker's point of view, but you felt that McCarthy didn't know much about it.

Referee Phil Dowd played five extra minutes on top of normal time, as both teams surged forward in vain to find a winner. Charlton nearly stole all three points when Jamie McAllister's half clearance from a Sinclair cross found Matt Holland who drove the ball toward the top corner, only to see his effort blocked and Varney missing the follow-up.

As the game ended, you could argue that a draw was probably the right result. Although Charlton could count themselves lucky on their second half performance, the result was a dent in their push for automatic promotion, with the playoffs looking like their only realistic target now.

Bristol City, however, go top of the Championship and three points clear on 65 points. On their second half showing, you can't argue with them continuing to surprise just about everyone in the country.

Gary Johnson as a future England manager? Well, I wouldn't bet against it just yet!

Charlton: Weaver; Halford, Youga, McCarthy, Sodje; Varney, Holland, Zheng, Ambrose (Cook 88), J Thomas (Sinclair 76); Varney, Iwelumo (Gray 63).

Subs (not used): Elliot, Thatcher.

Goals: Ambrose 8

Bristol City: Basso; Wilson, McAllister (Vasko 63), Fontaine, McCombe; Sproule (Byfield 46), Elliott, Johnson, Carle (Noble 88), McIndoe; Adebola.

Subs (not used): Weal, Trundle.

Goals: McCombe 62

Booked: McAllister 35 (foul on Varney), Byfield 75 (foul on Sodje)

Referee: P Dowd

Attendance: 24,075