West Bromwich Albion 0 Charlton 1
Herman Hreidarsson (or is it Luke Young?) and Jerome Thomas congratulate Matt Holland on his match-winning goal for Charlton in the 30th minute against West Brom.
Being thumped quite severely by Chelsea and Arsenal isn't much fun, nor is being beaten by Manchester United and Liverpool. And when, as at the start of the season, you travel to Bolton expecting at least a draw and hoping for more, and get 'thrashed' to quote one of the reports I could bring myself to read at the time, 4-1, then it is quite awful. However, when getting knocked about by the big money teams, one can at least reflect that we do get to play against them, as I pointed out a week or two back. Leeds, Sheffield Wednesday and West Ham no longer do, and they are supposed to be 'big' clubs too. Indeed the Leeds manager said, during the close season, that Leeds would be back precisely because they are a big club, though as I said at the time, teams get into upper divisions by winning games, not by people taking a tape-measure to them.
However, although one can console oneself after being drubbed by Arsenal, it is much more worrying when your team faces the side at the bottom of the table. Even bottom-of-the-table sides win at times, and it is evident that in order to do this, they must beat a team higher up in the table. After my rash statements about Charlton being able to pick up points against Crystal Palace and West Brom, following the battering by Chelsea and the defeat (no more than that) by Manchester United, I was rather apprehensive in case today might be the day for bottom club WBA. I kept well away from the media the entire afternoon, and went Christmas shopping. Returning in the early evening, with my jar of mincemeat and sundry other items, I really felt the need to put my feet up for an hour or two, but how were feet going to be enjoyably put up if West Brom had pulled it off?
I needn't have worried; the 1-0 scoreline looks narrow, but apparently the win was perfectly well-deserved, and the margin could easily have been greater. Fulham next, again on a Monday quiz night, and the Christmas charity quiz night to boot. However on this occasion I hope that any charitable sentiments floating around will be confined to the pub, and not be on display at The Valley.