Darren Bent tries to elude Gareth SouthgateArriving at the pub after work on Thursday night for the quiz, and, for the rest of the Charlton - 'Boro game, I was taken aback to find the TV screens showing Sky Sports News. I looked at the big clock that dominates the top end of the bar: 9.43. So if kick-off was at 8, or 9, Madrid time, then half time should be three or four minutes away. Then I recalled that for some reason or other the game had kicked off at five past the hour. So half time should be some way off yet, so why was the game not on? Our beloved landlady subsequently told me that it was on BBC2 or something (was it?), and she couldn't tune into it.
In fact I was quite relieved, as I would have felt obliged to divide my attention between the downstairs quiz and the upstairs TV screens; Hugh was also keen to follow the progress of Atlético Madrid against Sevilla, starting at ten o'clock, but that match didn't seem to be available either. In the end we concentrated on the quiz, and our landlady, fetching us our drinks from upstairs as she does, provided us with updates on the scores, which she got by following newsflashes on Sky Sports, I think.
The Charlton game ended first, and the 0-0 scoreline meant that Charlton at least went into the semi-final draw for the first time since the 1946-47 season, when they actually went on to win the trophy; OK, they went into the hat (do they use a hat?) as an either/or, but at least they were there, and I still don't see why Middlesbrough can't be overturned at the Riverside in three weeks' time, anyway. When Charlton went there to play in the league at the end of August, the score was 0-3; so the adventure isn't over yet.
Contented enough with that bit of news, I returned my attention to the quiz, which was going well, and which continued to go well; so well indeed that we ran out winners with 144 points, quite a few more than the runners up, of which there were three, all on the same score of 134 (I think), necessitating a tie-break for the much-coveted second place.
So, a fairly positive evening, and the next day, there was the semi-final draw, in which Charlton would, as I say, be figuring.
Frankie Valley on Friday morning carried the news that a number of people had dreamt of a West Ham - Charlton final. Strangely, I had had a similar dream, though as I pointed out in one of my occasional contributions to Frankie's page, mine featured a three-cornered match involving Villarreal as well, and even more bizarrely, my cousin Richard, 59 years old and whom, as he lives in New Zealand, I haven't seen for over ten years, was playing for Villarreal at left back, which proves what utter nonsense dreams can be. Rich used to be a centre forward. And anyway the draw then went and paired us against the Hammers in the semis, should we get through on 12 April.
Newcastle United tomorrow, and the bookies' odds are slightly in Charlton's favour; but then both sides have the same number of points, and Charlton are the home team. Even Lawro thinks it will be 2-1. The game's main interest, results apart, is the fact that Spotty Parker is returning to The Valley for the first time since winning his Greediest Young Player of the Season award back in January 2004, and buggering off to Chelsea, where, appropriately enough, he did bugger all. I wonder what kind of a welcome he'll get from the East Stand.