IT took six hours to get to Charlton as cars fought unsuccessfully with articulated lorries on England’s crowded motorways. We lost over 30 minutes at Knutsford despite a fan’s exhortations to the emergency services to ‘get a sweat on’ and re-open the M6. There were further delays due to more carnage around Northampton. This meant that we arrived at the Valley with barely enough time for a swift pint of John Smiths and a half-filled chicken Balti pie for lunch.

The Valley is not a happy place at the moment as the Coalition Against Roland Duchatelet (CARD) grows. They are a kind of permanently pessimistic Supporters Trust, who handed out a free programme listing their moans against their current owner and Katrien Meire, their chief executive. They are organising a ‘Black and White Day’ protest at their next home match with fans wearing black and white shirts, a snip at £25!

As we discussed our surprise exalted position at the top of the league, most fans thought that a draw would be a good result against one of the promotion favourites. Phil Parkinson went for his experienced line up again or rather he went for who’s available as our injury list grows alarmingly. It was another confident show and we nearly sneaked ahead in a quiet first half when David Wheater had a header cleared off the line. The main feature of the half was the introduction of the new rules where pulling your opponent back and wrestling them to the ground is no longer a free kick offence as Gary Madine and Jamie Proctor found out.

The second half began disastrously for Mark Davies and Bolton as he ricked his knee. It looked very serious as he was given oxygen and pain-killing injections on the pitch before being carried off with his leg in a brace. It was good to see the Charlton medics helping and to hear their fans give Mark a sporting round of applause. This team has a bit of character as we carried on and took the lead with a well worked goal from our goal machine, Gary Madine. We were disappointed that we didn’t hold out for the win but we’d have taken the point before kick-off. We’re becoming hard to beat and considering our present resources, that is nothing short of a miracle and a testament to the hard work being put in.