The Missing Link

Swindon Town [0-2] Charlton


Izale and Andy show off Charlton's new away colours

I spent the evening at home, pottering about in the kitchen and cleaning the fridge. The fridge is large and was brand-new almost a year ago, and was chosen because the shelves are level with your face when you stand and look into it, the three freezer drawers being down below. All the same it is quite astonishing how things can accumulate. I reached to the back of the capacious shelves and found myself being reacquainted with two yoghourts which had a use-by date of September 9th.

September 9th last year, that is; and even though use-by dates on things like sour cream and yoghourt can be safely ignored for quite a while afterwards, I thought that these had better go, so what with merrily consigning them and a few other commodities to the rubbish bin, and pondering a computer-based system for the stock control of the fridge contents (I already operate one for the freezer), I forgot the time and then suddenly it was 9 o'clock and I remembered that there was football going on. Many of my teams were in action, so it was time for a trip to Livescore to see what was happening.

Most of the games had reached half time, and the first thing I noticed was that Forest Green were beating Weymouth 3-1. Great. But hang on, Conference (or Blue Square as it is now known; thank God they resisted Consignia) teams don't play in the League Cup, do they?

Well no. Forest Green were playing a league game. Livescore had listed a few European games, and some friendlies, and then the Tottenham - Everton game and then the Blue Square matches, and then, the long list of games comprising the First Round of the Carling Cup. Of course the Swindon - Charlton game was quite near the bottom of this, so I saw how most of the others were doing, and scrolled away, and came to the one I sought: it read 0-0.

Hmm. Not that brilliant. But nothing I could do, and the kitchen called, as I would not be able to make a start on supper till I'd wiped all surfaces, cleaned all the fridge shelves and put everything away again, so off I went, and tried not to think about it, but I couldn't help reflecting, for all that, that being held to 0-0 was a trifle odd.

A further trip to Livescore once all was clean and tidy through there revealed that Charlton were now 2-0 up with a few minutes remaining, and so I could relax and start thinking about what to have for supper, now that I'd be in the mood for some.

I had clicked on the score on the Livescore page (as of today helpfully added to links list, at right), so I knew that Darren Ambrose had scored for Charlton after 52, and that Andy Reid had put away a penalty after 63, so once I'd waited for the magic letters FT to appear next to the score, indicating that the match was over, I caught up on a few other scores and went off to make some soup and a sandwich. It's too hot for proper cooked meals at the moment.

Some time later, I was back at the computer, and wondering if there was a report anywhere. And almost instinctively I went to the BBC football page. There was a link to the Tottenham - Everton game, as befitted the only League match (Blue Square excepted) of the evening, and a couple of European games; then there were a few other links to matches which had produced surprise scores, like Palace losing at Bristol Rovers on penalties, and Ipswich the same at Milton Keynes, and one that I hadn't noticed when checking the scores, and which is in fact very near home: Preston 1 Morecambe 2. A local derby with an amazing result, and the clubs had never met before under any circumstances. There'd be high jinks on the last 40 bus up the A6, I thought. I followed this link and read about the game for a minute, but then I clicked back, and further down, there were three more Carling Cup games mentioned, and the third of these was the very one I wanted. I clicked on it, and as it loaded (I am still using a dial-up connection until I get my new machine later this summer), I briefly wondered what kind of adverse comments would be forthcoming, for the BBC never says anything good about Charlton - maybe the area is notorious for non-payment of licence fees, I dunno - and then I gasped in amazement. For I have never read, on the BBC, such a favourable report about a Charlton performance. I was so gobsmacked that I saved the link; here it is. Note that Charlton are introduced to the reader in a positive light as "last season's beaten Cup quarter finalists" ; and then note that we are described as being "safely" into the next round. There then follows a reference to a "fine team move", and then captain Andy Reid is given his full description of "Republic of Ireland winger". The whole thing is but nine lines long, and yet is brimming with metalanguage which tells us that whoever wrote it is very favourably disposed to Charlton.

And then, having read it a few times and saved the link, I clicked back to where I had come from, and... the link was gone. Where three minutes earlier it had read "Swindon 0 Charlton 2", it now read "Rochdale 2 Stoke 2".

Now in fact Rochdale won this on penalties, so I suppose it did fall into the "more interesting for a neutral" category, but I wondered, all the same, if the Charlton piece had been written by a fledgling BBC sports writer, and posted, and then the supervisor had come along and pointed out that you can't refer to Charlton in such glowing terms, "but there's no time to write another one, the pubs will be closed, we'll just have to drop the link".

And the missing link never reappeared. And by mid afternoon today, if anyone logged on to find out about last night's games, there was not a single link to any of them. All the links were to Champions' League qualifiers and the remaining Premiership programme, which had not even started yet, for the BBC clearly prefers froth and speculation to actual reports, especially when they are as unpalatable as the Swindon - Charlton one must have been to the people in charge of the BBC football pages. And there were at least three, possibly more, stories about Roy Keane, fast replacing Teddy Sheringham as the most interesting person in the universe, at least as far as BBC Sport is concerned.

And the mystery of the half time 0-0? Well I eventually found out on the Charlton page that the weather had been wet and windy, and Charlton had been playing against a strong wind in the first half. After the break, with the wind behind them, they settled down and comfortably sailed through.

Good.