... And into the ­Myhre

Bolton Wanderers 4 Charlton 1



It seems that no one expected much from this fixture, and that no one cares. The Inspector reports that Charlton relied on a weakened midfield and defence belting the ball, Fourth Division style, upfield, and hoping that Darren Bent (Marcus is one of the wounded) might latch on to something, but unfortunately Charlton's penalty was the only thing he hit home.

And Thomas Myhre's reputation, acquired during the spate of goalless draws, for keeping clean sheets, has disappeared as well, as he was at fault on several occasions, and a 'bring back Andersen' movement seems to be starting up, and only rightly as I feel he was unjustifiably dropped after a small dip in form, earlier in the season.

For myself, I never expected much; Bolton always do well against Charlton; all visits to the North West have been fruitless this season, barring the 0-0 at Anfield not so long ago, and of course with six regular first-teamers unavailable through injury, or in the case of Herman Hreidarsson, suspension, there was going to be little Charlton could do. And Bolton are still in with another chance of playing in the UEFA Cup next season, too.

As with the Middlesbrough games recently, the media interpreted the fixture as some kind of competition between potential England managers, which of course none of them was. The BBC, true to form, reported that Charlton had played badly (well they did) but omitted to mention the missing six. The Kent Messenger not only picked up on the Lancs / North West jinx, but pointed out that the last time a 0-1 deficit to Portsmouth was converted into a 2-1 win, the very next outing was to the North West (Blackburn), and a 4-1 thumping ensued.

But as I say; I knew this in my heart; I didn't even bother to find out what Lawro thought; even he must have got this one right.