Charlton 2 – 0 Brentford: pretty much as expected

Remind Beesy to follow it’s convictions and start betting on scores… Oh, and shame on Charlton for ruining football’s premier boozy viewing platform.

A very difficult game to describe, with Charlton clearly superior to the West London tyros throughout, yet coming away from the game counting themselves lucky to get the win.

Brentford set out to contain Charlton and play on the break, a strategy quickly undermined by Sam Wood’s horrendous attempted back header to the communication void that is Lewis Price. The nod-down was intercepted by the infinitely-too-good-for-this-league Lloyd Sam, who teed up Deon Burton for the opener. Burton’s performance could not have served as a better reminder of what an intelligent target man can bring at this level, and his movement, anticipation and shrewd manipulation of the Bees defence was a masterclass his more illustrious opposite number could have noted.

Brentford toiled to get a foothold in the game, and those who watched on TV tell us we had a decent penalty shout, but Charlton ascended to a higher plane of passing and moving that slashed a chasm through the Brentford team creating a chance well-taken for Sam to make it two. Shelvey and Bailey are likely to be among the best midfielders we meet in many seasons, although that does little to excuse the level of performance turned in by O’Connor and particularly Hunt, who looked completely out of their depth throughout.

Charlton took their foot off the pedal in the second half with the result that Brentford created a few half chances – mainly squandered by the dire Cort – inbetween three absolute sitters pelted wide by Charlton. Cort did come closer than he has previously to scoring, but his performance was still a long way short of acceptable. Yet presentable chances missed by Cort and Weston, a fantastic save from a Cort header and David Hunt’s belting freekick onto the crossbar, allied to the first half penalty shout, meant Charlton could still count themselves somewhat fortunate.

Highlight of the game was the welcome return of Charlie Macdonald as a second half substitute, although his addition to the fray without a reserve comeback has to be taken as a tacit attacking mea culpa from Andy Scott, who left Steve Kabba kicking his heels on the bench.

So, points to note:

- Sam Saunders: for the love of god stop hitting corners at the first man;
- We need Bean back now, no excuses;
- What exactly are Cleveland Taylor and Miles Weston bringing to the party?
- New strikers please.

Price 6 – Foster 4 (Osborne 5) Phillips 5 Wilson 6 Wood 4 – Taylor 4 (Macdonald 5) Hunt 4 O’Connor 4 Saunders 5 – Cort 3 Weston 4

Charlton preview – and not a proper one

With a jaunty hat tip to Sesame Street, this preview is brought to you by the following quote from Kevin O’Connor (as nicked from the official website) referring to the FA Cup game in 2006 (we think):

“I played in that FA Cup game, to play them in the league shows how far we have come and also that they have come down.”

Beesy would like to point out that when we played Charlton in the Cup that day, we lay third in division three. That folks is precisely how far we have come.

Anyway, so to the game that will inevitaby see your correspondent have to buy food for a homeless type. Your PMA wristband-wearing Brentford fan will tell you that we’re unbeaten and unbeatable this year. Your disappointment-hardened Brentford fan will point out that we’ve only won twice this season, one of which thanks to a managerless Norwich side imploding in the second half but still only being beaten by two set pieces, while our strikers have stunk the place up horrendously all season.

Which means 2-0 Charlton: a Deon Burton belter and a soaring Sam Sodje header from a corner.

Bah!

Norwich 1 – 0 Brentford: how many?

Of course we didn’t go, but has no-one explained this competition to the good people of Norfolk? Nearly 13,000 for the Painted Vans?!?

It’s still a marginally more important competition than Milk Cup though.

Southampton Preview: Wot no Beam Back???

So where were you on Feb 19th 2005? If you were a Brentford season ticket holder/ club member you where probably gnashing your teeth whilst sat at Griffin Park cursing all those non fans that had stolen/ bought your Southampton away day ticket.

Now Beesy’s take on Beam Back has always been that it must have been the best, most magical way of viewing a game given the opportunity for dancing girls, booze and fireworks.

Of course Beesy has never actually experienced the delights of Beam Back. We made a decision to get up early and using phones got tickets quite easily. So we were at St Mary’s for the Isiah Rankin wondergoal and the hilarious disallowed goal for Kevin Phillips right at the death. But we still are outraged that the option for people to pay to huddle around a large screen at Griffin Park hasn’t been taken up. Beesy can only think of three reasons for this:

1. That there suddenly is space in the large, usually half filled stadium for paying visiting fans?
2. That it’s going to be a hard Christmas for those in the Large Screen/ Beam Back Business?
3. Or that a League of the Damned match featuring two mediocre teams is of a waning interest to most?

You, dear reader can of course decide.

What can be said with certainty is that following two relegations in five years Southampton FC (formerly a subsidiary of Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC) is in decline from the Keegan/ Le Tissier / Le Saux glory years of virtually all of our football watching existence which saw 27 years of our 30 in the top flight of English football.

Currently on a net tally of minus nine points, with two goals scored and Southampton can be found firmly rooted at the bottom of the League of the Damned. As has been well reported a summer of financial travails has left the club feeling their way into the new season tentatively with an opening day draw with Millwall the highlight so far, with two away defeats to Huddersfield and Swindon making up their other fixtures.

Having turned to Alan Pardew in the summer Southampton stll have a squad of players you’d have heard of: Chris Perry, Graeme Murty, Marek Saganowski um… ok maybe not that many players you would have heard of but with new signing Ricky Lambert in line for a start it should be expected that tomorrow will be no easy tie.

But then Brentford, buoyed by victory over one of the other too-big-for-this-league club Norwich City in the week will take solace from the loss of Alan Bennett by the new loan signing of James Wilson, everyone’s favourite very good Bristolian central defender (even if it does mean bad news for fans of Karleigh Osborne’s unique haphazard style of football).

Also fingers crossed for Steve Kabba. Let’s hope that he can deny a hobo a nutritious and possibly life saving meal.

So lets see those Southampton Facts:

• Southampton is a bloody big port city but will always be more famously known known as the “gateway” to the Isle of Wight than for, say, being the fourth largest UK port by tonnage.
• Southampton has a “special relationship” with Kaliningrad, that weird bit of Europe near Poland that isn’t really acknowledge on maps (due to it being owned/ ruled/ part of Russia). Beesy couldn’t possibly say what this special relationship is but, well.. y’know Sailors and Vodka
• Brentford’s current home kit is remarkable similar to the Southampton’s Admiral 70s numbers. Look here for proof: www.historicalkits.co.uk
• These people come from Southampton… see if you can spot them at the match: Benny Hill (Comedian); Craig David (Singer-ish); Sir John Everitt Millias (Pre Raphaelite Painter. He was the good one). Admittedly you may only see one of them.

Brentford 2 – 1 Nurridge: more floodlit fun

There really is something about busy night games at GP. Always a much better atmosphere than Saturdays too – as long as a crowd turns up.

At half-time we feared the worst – Norwich looked faster, stronger and frankly better. Bennett’s limp-off was not as concerning as it once would have been. Of the many beneficiaries of Andy Scott’s reign Karleigh Osborne should be near the top of the list. The ricks are slowly leaving his game and he’s developed an odd poise.

Anyway the second half was outstanding. The interplay between Wood, Dickson and Saunders was facilitated by the superb Hunt at the fulcrum of everything. Weston and Cort were full of effort and running, albeit without the latter threatening the scoresheet.

The only areas of concern were Kevin O’Connor and the unconvincing Lewis Price. For KO’C there was some good, composed break-out play, but he was slow off his heels and often chasing shadows when not in possession, which bodes ill. That said, Norwich’s midfielders were of a higher quality than most we will see this year. Price had a fortunate reprieve on a number of crosses, and however many times we re-watch the video we still can’t see a deflection on the free kick that beat him a metre inside his near post.

Still, it’s churlish to criticise after a good team performance like that and, much though Brentford were assisted by Norwich’s extraordinary internecine squabbling and desertion of composure after half-time, these are the games to be enjoyed.

Price 5 – Foster 7 Bennett 6 (Osborne 7) Phillips 7 Dickson 8 – Saunders 8 (Taylor -) O’Connor 5 Hunt 8 Wood 7 – Weston 6 (Kabba -) Cort 6

Canary dwarf: Norwich preview

Ah, Norwich. Having cast themselves succesfully as one of those clubs that would perpetually remain in Coca-Cola Purgatory, they gailly waltzed out the back door through the tried and trusted technique of two dire managerial appointments on the bounce.

Apparently their first game in the League of the Damned didn’t go entirely to plan, and they now find themselves in the midst of a fortnight of unemployed managers who wouldn’t lower themselves to managing anyone below the Championship hinting at an interest in the job, like a gaggle of increasingly desperate ageing dowagers secretly hoping the local squire will whisk them away to a life of leisure and privilege, while hedging their bets by flashing their garters at the down-on-his-luck local turkey farmer.

Saturday’s too-early-for-any-significant-conclusions-but-still-bloody-tedious yawn-off with Brighton has hopefully dampened the laughably unrealistic hopes of back-to-back promotions which had begun to fulminate. Improved performances from the midfield and strikers will be sought.

For Norwich Grant Holt seems set to assume Pawel Abbot’s mantle as our perpetual striking foe, and after their goal-each-off with Exeter at the weekend it seems hard to predict particulalry goal-laden fare tomorrow.

Anyway, here is your fact stat attack pack:

• Norwich have a squad of 33 professionals to choose from, none of whom are particularly good.
• The University of East Anglia has a Sainsbury’s on the campus. The number of recent graduates manning tills is currently unknown (to us).
• Craig Bellamy is their most famous ex-player. Just about.
• Norwich was home to the ‘New wave of Nu Nurridge” movement in the mid 90s, focussed on about five crap local indie bands getting gigs at the Waterfront which got written about in the NME.
• Norwich City’s website features an entire page devoted to their 1958-59 cup run, in which they got to the semi final and did not win any trophies.
• The Club is the focus of utterly mental lo-fi 1974 film “The boy who turned yellow”.
• Striker turned central defender Gary Doherty survives on a diet exclusively of rice cakes. In a 2006 interview Doherty estimated that he eats in the region of 1,400 rice cakes a day “the small ones, not the big ones, as I don’t like biting into the big ones when I can eat the small ones whole”. His favourite flavour is rumoured to be plain.
• There are six long articles about the Club’s history on Norwich’s website, and Beesy is damned if it’s going to read them.