Killer Victory

A massive win for Charlton and an even bigger win for Derek 'killer' Hales who correctly forecast a 1-0 win at 11/2 which leaves his gambling debts at just £32 for the season. What this proves of course is that injecting some accountability into the provision of a service produces dramatically improved results. It worked for the NHS, and it will work for Killer too. However rest assured I am far too modest to demand the charities open a "New York Addick Ward" at a local hospital when Killer pays them what is bound to be a whopping cheque at season-end.

As for the game itself, I thoroughly enjoyed it though was regretful that I was not wearing a heart-rate monitor during the final quarter because it would have made for an interesting post. We sat in the West Stand Upper for only the second time and it certainly improves the perspective offered down below, whilst the atmosphere sat close to the North Stand was noticeably better as were the views. We also sat in front of what appeared to be a stag party over from Denmark whose vocal support tailed off markedly when Rommedahl failed to appear for the second half.

Although reviewing the highlights on Match of the Day makes it hard to suggest we thoroughly deserved the three points, we were due some good luck and I continue to admire Dowie's attempts to play an attacking line-up and urge his troops to get the ball down and play. Whilst the results are not yet as good of course, the football we are playing is vastly superior to that produced by Curbishley's sides and we will surely improve from here too (we have to of course).

Here are my ratings for the game:

Carson 9 - three outstanding saves and excellent handling throughout
Young 7 - he's always a 7 isn't he? His average rating over his 145 appearances has been 6.993
Hreidarsson 6 - my wife thinks he's good looking otherwise it would have been a 5
Diawara 8 - could be the signing of the summer
El Karkouri 8 - one of Dowie's success stories - found time to showboat once on the left wing
Faye 7 - he just loves 'clearing up' - the tea ladies must love him at the training ground
Holland 7 - a better performance from the nicest man in football
Rommedahl 6 - would have come into his own in the second half when Bent lacked support
Thomas 6 - hard to criticise when your cross wins the game, but I will so there
Reid 8 - fitness coach John Harbin could earn his salary with Reidy alone; lovely feet though
Bent D 7 - classy header for the goal, missed a couple of chances but it's a lonely role at times
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Hughes 4 - enough already
Hasselbaink 0 - would have been 10 had he scored late on

Unfortunately the win wasn't enough to take us off the bottom with fellow battlers Watford and Sheffield United registering wins, but the table is not as painful to look at and with Newcastle, 'Boro and increasingly Reading in some serious trouble, we are not without some company now.