TGIF Sarfend United 1 Charlton Athletic 2
Phew, how about that to start off a weekend. Add some fish and chips, a pickled gherkin or two and a pale ale and tonight has been rather enjoyable. If I get 10 hours sleep tonight I will think Christmas has come early.

Admittedly at 5pm Bermuda time I wasn't in such good spirits. I had switched my computer off in a huff and swung my leather chair into my desk rather too zealously and stomped out of the office to meet my waiting other half and daughter.

Bradley Allen on BBC Radio London wasn't too complimentary and he made one comment that resonated with me about us having no leaders. I was left embarrassed by how Bailey's part in Jean-Francois Christophe's sending off was described on the radio. It sounded as if he again fell as if shot by a sniper parading as a ball-boy but to be fair eye-witnesses seem to agree he was caught in the face and certainly Sky Sports pictures showed Christophe walking to the tunnel without complaint.

Bailey helped drive us forward in the second half but it was the introduction of Reid that provided the impetus. The cross for Sodje's goal was excellent and his finish from Llera's fine long ball was cracking. Meanwhile Elliot has had a 'mare with Southend's goal but he's redeemed himself with saves both before and after. In my mind it is Mooney who needs to be the most sheepish after his 2nd half miss.

Like Orient earlier in the season, it obviously wasn't a vintage performance but to be a goal down and then get a late winner away from home in front of delirious away fans can do wonders for spirit and confidence.

We won our next three games without conceding after that night at Brisbane Road. So feet up tomorrow to see what the others do. Looking at the table tonight we are still only 6 points behind Norwich. A win over Brighton, Tranmere and Orient at home in the last month and I might have treated myself to a some mushy peas tonight as well!

Quotes: "I didn’t get a clear view of the incident, but it seemed that after the referee awarded them a free kick just outside our box Bailey might have been a little slow to hand over the ball. He received a punch in the face for his troubles, with no arguments offered by their player for the red card (for good measure Bailey was given a yellow)." Blackheath Addicted

"Hope all Addicks are home safe. Even the bloke who weed on me on the Tube can't dampen (ahem) my spirits! Sweet dreams." @CAFCoffical on Twitter  ¶ 21:30 |

  Another new kit(s) Will this look like our new home kit next season? Macron, an emerging Italian sportswear company based near Bologna will take over the design and manufacturing of our home and away kits in the summer resulting in two new jerseys, much to the chagrin of every parent.

Macron already provide kits for Leeds, Sheffield United, Stockport County, Sporting Braga, Bologna, Napoli, NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac and very importantly Eastbourne Borough. Both West Ham and Millwall have already announced their switch to Macron for next season.

Steve Waggott described the 4-year deal as the "biggest kit contract in the club's history." (more)

The monetary value is undisclosed but "the biggest" may just be a result of the length of contract period but this is good news nonetheless even though I personally like Joma's efforts this season.  ¶ 16:30 |

  Demotivated Charlton Athletic 1 Brighton & Hove Albion 2
For the last two days I have been locked in a room pumped full of oxygen, think a Las Vegas casino without the fun, in work presentations around the tagline of: Innovation.Integration.Execution.Motivation.

If the meetings were hosted by Phil Parkinson then after last night the slogan may well have been: Cataclysm.Disintegration.Realisation.Demotivated. And demotivated was how I felt when I escaped to the bathroom and checked the result.

After witnessing for myself on Saturday a much better performance I had high hopes of another 3 points. I had expected Brighton's confidence to be knocked after two tough games against Norwich and Brighton, when they should have pocketed six, and not the one point however the opposite was true and from the little I can bear to read, we were well beaten.

I was also disappointed to read that Mooney didn't play more of a withdrawn role like he did in the second half on Saturday. I am fed up of saying it, but Parkinson has to revert to 4-5-1 this Friday at Southend because whatever he does at the moment is not in anyway replicating the form we showed in early season.

My Brighton mate was at the game and he wrote in an email to me last night that: "You were not that bad. You had chances but we took ours and you didn't." That might be true but Charlton fans are no longer surprised by defeat. That is one win in seven and our brittle confidence has been shattered again and for the first time this season I am looking nervously down the table and not up it.

Quotes: "The reality is that we are a third division side for a reason, and the reason is that we are not very good, and we should both acknowledge and live with that. I suspect we will finish in mid table, and as galling as it is watching Charlton do in 2009/10 in the third division, exactly what they did in 2007/08 in the 2nd division, the reality is that we do not have the right calibre of players for this division, and in Parkinson, we do not have a manager capable of driving the team in times of adversity." Deepest Darkest

"My worry is not that we will be in this division for a few seasons. My worry is that if we fail to finish in the top six, not only will we be forced to play in this division for another season, but there will be literally nothing to demonstrate that we can get promoted any time soon. This will almost certainly cause serious carnage in the squad and either way the chances of the board finding someone that will take the club on will fall dramatically." Kings Hill Addick  ¶ 15:03 |

  On tour 700 miles were covered during our UK baby tour week, which began a day late due to the weather. It was fun though and not half as stressful as we had envisioned. The baby was excellent and yesterday afternoon she notched up her 5th flight in her short life after we flew in from a cold Gatwick to a still blustery Bermuda.

We spent time in Oxfordshire, Hampshire, Essex, Kent and East Sussex with family and friends and yesterday after I said my goodbyes to my son I felt as homesick and upset as I have felt in the seven years I have been away.

My son was 10 last Thursday and I took him and his friend to Go Ape in Bedgebury, set in the Bedgebury National Pinetum, which even in the rain was a stunning setting. I had never heard of the Pinetum, but I set to find out and it's 300 plus acres contains the most complete collection of conifers in one place anywhere in the world and apart from Go Ape it is a beautiful place to bike, walk, run, take the dog or horse ride.

Go Ape is basically an obstacle course set high up among the trees. Using ropes, ladders, tunnels, walkways and zip lines to clamber around fully harnessed at heights of up to 42 feet (13m) moving from section to section it took around three exhilerating hours to complete the course. My dodgy knee aside the most disconcerting thing was after a 15 minute safety lesson we were allowed to set off on the course unaccompanied with me being tagged as supervisor, my only qualification being that I was the oldest. The boys loved it, and so did I although on a particularly wobbly and high sodden wooded swing walkway at section four, love was not the first four letter word that was occupying my mind.

It was also bloody freezing and the tomato soup waiting for us in the Pinetum's cafe was very welcome as we sat there together caked in mud at the end with wide smiles.

I managed to take in a couple of films last week. The Invention of Lying was Ricky Gervais at his most adept and we also saw Avatar in 3D, which my son described as the best film he had ever seen. We were probably watching different movies to be fair but one cannot hide from the fact the special effects and it's vivacity were incredible and left one to wonder how far the cinema can go in the next ten years.

James Cameron would disagree no doubt but the film's success is not about the storyline but I do think he passed up a wonderful opportunity to dig deeper into the American pschye of evil big guy v little good guy. However it kept my attention fully for almost 3 hours, which is not easy. If you haven't seen it and are considering it, then watch it on the big screen in 3D, I don't think the DVD will be as part of cinematic culture than ET was 20 years after it came out.  ¶ 15:27 |

  Kyel Love-it Charlton Athletic 2 Yeovil Town 0
We needed a good old fashioned clean-sheeted home win with no drama and that is what we got. Worryingly for me our defence despite each player individually having good games, still conspired to offer Yeovil plenty of shots at goal but each one Robbie Elliot was equal to, the first a one-on-one saved with his feet after Llera was caught napping. A goal down in the first ten minutes I suspect would have provided a different consequence but we got over that early hump and grew slowly in confidence.

Our play was nowhere near as fluid as when I last saw us in the flesh way back in September against Brentford but the result was the same and the performance was a vast improvement on Monday night’s display in Bristol. There was some fine switching of play and we were keen to get the ball out wide to Reid and Sam and did so to good effect. Bailey had another off day by his standards and misplaced almost every pass he made in the first half but in his defence he never hid from a tackle or a pass and eventually played his part in the victory.

The captain should have settled the nerves with an opener when the keeper blocked his shot when right through on goal but Reid was excellent and his goal livened up a quiet Valley in the 30th minute when his left foot produced a shot like a laser-guided missile that flew past the diving Yeovil keeper scratching at thin air.

Parkinson said in his programme notes that he had the players look back at some of the early season games and although the pitch was heavy some of our passages of play during the game were reminiscent of those late summer and autumnal matches. On a number of occasions the crowd responded well to some good intentioned moves and we moved the ball well around the circumference and in the box without resorting to the hoof.

Mooney had frustrated me personally throughout the game but to his credit he was always looking for the ball, and played a lot deeper in the 2nd half, which I preferred as he and Burton do seem to get in each other’s way although I saw none of the rumoured rift between the two. Mooney did take his goal well after a crisp move ending with Racon's inch perfect pass to him inside the box.

Llera played very well and resisted those 40-yard passes into the channels and kept it simple, Reid was a constant threat and I like his direct play with a good element of skill and Johnnie Jackson had a very good debut.

It wasn’t a vintage performance but this is the rough and tumble of the 3rd Division and I have accepted that seemingly more than the bloke behind me who appeared to be stuck in a Charlton time-warp. It was the response most of us were looking for and a vital win particularly with Norwich losing at home, Colchester winning and Leeds getting their customary 95th minute goal.

One can still sense the brittleness to everyone's confidence at The Valley but the crowd were patient and got noisier as the game wore on, especially after the latest scores came through that Leeds and Norwich were behind and it was good to see smiles around us again as we climbed the East Stand steps after Robbie had done a couple of jumps.

For me the result rounded off a very nice week at home and it was an added bonus for my son celebrating his 10th birthday. I just wish I could have extended our trip a couple of days and been back at The Valley Tuesday to see us play Brighton. I will of course be there in spirit.

Reports: Drinking During the Game; Many Miles; Deepest Darkest; Blackheath Addicted; Charlton Casual; Charlton Athletic Online;  ¶ 20:44 |

  X Rated Bristol Rovers 2 Charlton Athletic 1
As my Monday evening wore on medicated fortunately by alcohol it dawned on me that we have found our level. Those haylcon days of early season full of optimism look long gone. Now mid-season we are just, well proper 3rd Division and I am steadying myself for a bit of a stay in this godforsaken league. Depressing isn't it?

On the bright side judging by the table we're pretty decent at this level, perhaps we could have a few seasons down here challenging for the play-offs. What's wrong with that? Better than going up and being thrown into a relegation battle. Financially of course we will be screwed by a pro-longed stay.

As far as Monday's game is concerned we are truly an embarrassment when it comes to TV, and this from someone who lives abroad and begs for the slightest coverage of his team.

It was another X rated performance bereft of a game plan, inspiring tactics or any initiative to win the game. If it wasn't for Robbie Elliot I could have switched off at half-time safe in the knowledge that we would be thrashed. The fact that with a bit of undeserved luck we may have again snatched a late point makes our current plight all the more galling when one consider the position we had got ourseves into before the new year and Leeds' own current form.

One other point I want to record about Monday was the absolutely disgusting foul on Basey that could have ruined his career. Blizzard should have gone but equally it is moments like that in matches that should give us the inspiration to go on and win games, but we have forgotten how to do that.

I will see for myself on Saturday just how rubbish we have become when I will take my seat for the Yeovil game. We are a team low on confidence and a cutting edge and I am getting more and more concerned about Parkinson's ability to turn it around. Surely he must see that we need to revert to basics and Plan A, i.e. 4-5-1.

Burton has retreated within himself since Mooney and Akpo have joined. Give him the lone role once again with a plan to pass through to him as opposed to the current default position of lumping it forward. The defence with Dailly looking tired and Sodje clumsy needs the outer ring of Semedo returned to it for added protection. Racon and especially Bailey can return to worrying about their own game and Sam needs a rocket up his arse.

I'm still looking forward to going on Saturday and even though I have adjusted my ambitions we still have everything to play for and while I fully understand those of you that traipse around the country losing heart we all need to take a deep breath because we still have every chance because in a swamp of ugly ducklings we still have the appearance of a swan.

I'm looking for a response and some tough love from Parkinson and the players on Saturday.  ¶ 11:48 |

  Jinxed This blog is becoming like a sorry tale of travel delays and, well we were jinxed again tonight after our Gatwick flight from Bermuda was cancelled due to the gale force winds flailing across the island all day. The inward flight was redirected to Boston and after arrival at the airport we were told that the "crew had exceeded their hours." Sleep well crew.

We were due at some friends tomorrow for brunch, our hosts going to a lot of effort to gather other friends together and we're hugely disappointed not to see them. We will now try to leave again tomorrow night.

Today was frankly a fog of unpacking and packing but I have just caught up with all of the scores and we couldn't have realistically expected any better although Leeds equalising in the 95th minute (they have scored some very late goals this season) and Norwich getting two in the last ten was a bit sickening. My Brighton mate emailed me earlier and was thoroughly depressed stating that they should have had the game won before Norwich scored. There is no stopping those blasted Canaries.

Stockport did us proud so that we could retain 3rd place, Huddersfield and Swindon equalised each other out in Yorkshire while Neil Harris scored an 81st minute winner for Millwall to secure a fifth consecutive win.

Football violence was back in the news today after trouble at the Millwall Youth Cup game at Aston Villa on Friday and less surprising was the clashes outside St Mary's today after Pompey thrashed Pardew's Southampton.

So I'm now sat here amongst a couple of suitcases with a Heineken watching the coverage of the Winter Olympics. I loved the Short Track Speed Skating qualifying, it was like a game of chess and now it is the Luge. I watched in horror earlier today as I saw the pictures of Georgian Nodar Kumaritashvili's death run. NBC have just said they won't be showing it again (the Olympic network showed it four times in total) and while that is respectively well advised, not showing the evidence may well hide a lot of the track's deficiences.  ¶ 22:22 |

  Genes Back on the rock for 24 hours and I hope our daughter has inherited my travelling genes as we go back to the airport this evening to fly home to the UK for a week of family and friends hopping showing her off.

Unexpectedly we spent another night in Miami's South Beach after Bermuda airport was closed Thursday due to 90mph hurricane force gales. It has been a shitty travel week all around North America with 13,000 flights cancelled and of course the UK has seen yet more snow as did our daughter for the first ever time in Philadelphia last weekend (see photo).

Miami work-wise was good, a typical blur of long days hampered by long nights. Staggering in at 5am Thursday morning waking a baby and a bemused other half was not big or clever and it made my 7.30am presentation a little bit of a struggle. Preparation was never my strong suit!

On our extra day Friday we took a look around downtown Coral Gables which calls for another visit one day and we stopped for a wonderful lunch in Houstons.

We land at Gatwick tomorrow morning and begin what will doubtless be a knackering week. Hopefully Monday night I can convince my underwhelmed-other-half's brother-in-law to switch Sky Sports I on, whilst the following Saturday my son and I will be at the Yeovil game and there will be plenty to do in between.  ¶ 02:05 |

  MIA Our jinx with the weather and flying continues. We made it down to Miami on Monday without any fuss but the original north-eastern US storms have moved out to the Atlantic and now Bermuda is in for a nasty dose of weather and the island is bracing itself for hurricane force winds tonight and tomorrow. All of today's flights in and out of Bermuda have been cancelled and so they are expected to be tomorrow, which of course was when we were due to fly home.

So we have re-booked for another night and now fly home on Friday when we will spend all night washing and ironing in readiness to repack and fly to London on Saturday evening.  ¶ 13:50 |

  Philly Cheese Saints A Sunday in Philadelphia then after our flight to Florida this morning got cancelled as did nearly all the flights out of Philly today. The local news stations justified the complete standstill of the city by telling us over and over that it was the second worse snowstorm in it's history. The city was desolate again today enhanced by Superbowl Sunday but we dug the car out and did some shopping and had a brisk walk in temperatures that were above freezing. The sun shone and made big indents into the snow and I hope that the airport spent the day wisely getting itself ready for tomorrow when we need to be on the lunchtime Miami flight.

Meanwhile last night in the hotel Nicky Bailey was obviously busy with other people's wives and didn't make it but what sounded like hundreds of high school kids did as they partied and shouted into the early hours preventing us from getting hardly any sleep. An unwanted fire alarm then joined in until our (eventual false) alarm went off at 4.30am.

Once we found out our flight was cancelled we complained to the hotel manager, and then asked for another night and credit where credit is due they have been brilliant and comped us a free night and an upgrade to a very nice suite.

It is here that I write this with a glass of wine, which I have just raised to the New Orleans Saints, who have become Superbowl champions for the first time in their history by beating Peyton Manning's Indianapolis Colts 31-17. Congratulations to a very deserving city.  ¶ 21:48 |

  Snow go in Philly The snow came, a lot of it in fact. The whole of the east coast of America has been buried and 27 inches fell here according to the news reports so we have had today in Philadelphia. What really surprised us though, was how the city just came to a juddering halt, almost London style. No one was out on the streets, the roads were not cleared, the shops and restaurants weren't open, the downstairs Starbucks shut two hours after it opened because the staff were worried about getting home and the hotel put a note under the door saying there was no room service or no housekeeping. Shameful. Chicago - hold your snowy head up high because the Windy City just turns it's collar up against 27 inches of snow!

We weren't dressed for it but we had a little walk around the impressive City Hall, which came into more focus as the day grew older and the snowy skies cleared. We walked around the row houses and what looked like trendy but closed bars and boutiques of Rittenhouse Square and then we people-watched in the lobby bar of the Ritz Carlton. A rich and classy Jewish wedding sat uncomfortably next to a much more trashier looking nuptial

The snow stopped at around 3pm, and tonight's sky has been very clear so we hope that our flight gets out early tomorrow to the sunnier clime of Ft Lauderdale in Florida.  ¶ 00:08 |

  Room 1608, Philadelphia Hyatt, USA Dear Nicky Bailey, get yourself a flight love because I have the wine chilled and am waiting for you..

Really, what would we do without the red haired hot lover. John Terry. Move over ugly.

I followed the game via Twitter foregoing Emma 'er, was that umm Sodje or Burton that scored. Nope it was Nick-ey Bail-ey' Jones on CAFC TV but it really didn't sound very good, here are some Twitter messages from this afternoon:

@CharltonPlus: Urm. Rubbish.
@all_quiet: You don't need me to add my tuppence worth on how crap most of that first half was. Swindon like a trip to 1983.
@CAFCgirl87: this shit is scary. Feels like we gona be playing league one football forever a this rate. Ahhhhhhh
@darryl1974: Cold, losing, in Swindon, and watching what the locals are loudly calling us "a shit Crystal Palace". How's your day going?

Thank god for Captain Fantastic. I thought Parkinson picked a brave starting line up by dropping Burton to the bench and Sam completely. Solly missed out too and Akpo was the sole striker and we had this kind of continental 4-2-3-1 formation. I have been in favour of a 4-5-1 and I think we got that in the second half when Semedo replaced Waggy but frankly after that I lost touch of who was playing and in what system.

Swindon are a good side, yes I know Chelsea are a good side, but we are in the 3rd Division now get used to it so two points against them this season is no shame but we are not playing well, not well at all.

Reports: Doctor Kish.  ¶ 18:03 |

  Deadline day recap I'm a bit late with this but frankly I have just woken from the slumber of the January transfer window. Despite Sky Sports' best efforts the mid-season window was a right damp squib despite a typical late rally. In fact this morning Steve Bruce has predicted the demise of the current system.

There were only a handful of moves that involved real money. Adam Johnson's moved from Middlesbrough to Manchester City for £7m, hard up Pompey shipped out Bosnian keeper Asmir Begović to Stoke, after he thought he was going to Spurs for £3.25m, although Harry Redknapp did get a tax credit to bring back Younes Kaboul for £5m and as expected Palace's administrators sold Victor Moses to Wigan for £2.25m, although surprisingly no one else left Selhurst Park.

The late, late loan moves of Benjani to Sunderland and Robbie Keane to Celtic gave sports journalists a bit of overtime but it was quietest and least costly mid-season window since it was introduced in 2003 with 'just' £30m spent in total. This compares to £170m last year and £150m in January 2008.

I always approach January with a large dollop of intrepidation, hence the Poll over there on the right hand panel of this blog, however as the month progressed it was finally clear that clubs are getting a large dollop themselves, but of reality. Many clubs either sway on the edge of administration or just carry large amounts of debt.

A dull and boring transfer window suited us just fine even though moving Moo2kil of our wage bill would have been beneficial. The Frenchman by the way easily winning my If we are forced to sell in the January Transfer Window, who will it be Poll by 48%. Therry Racon got 17% of the vote and Lloyd Sam 12%.

Unfortunately Norwich and Leeds also kept hold of their best players! Rumours of Wes Hoolahan moving to Hull were unfounded and of course Beckford had already agreed to stay at Elland Road until the end of the season. Whilst we signed Kyel Reid and welcomed back Dave Mooney and Akpo Sodje, Leeds did add Gary McSheffrey on loan from Birmingham City until the end of the season to boost their front line but they did let the once lauded David Prutton move to Colchester on a free.

Norwich signed left back Michael Rose from Stockport and in typical current Canary style he got their match winner at home to Hartlepool on Saturday. Literally that stoopid yellow bird could fall in a vat of poo and come out smelling of Chanel No. 5. Of interest to me was seeing that Millwall allowed Jason Price to move to Oldham on loan. I have always been impressed with the Welshman but Jackett has hardly played him this season. The Lions did add Peterborough striker Shaun Batt on loan until the end of the season after suffering injuries to Gary Alexander and Neil Harris.

Swindon held on to Charlie Austin but didn't add to their squad and Huddersfield brought in 19-year old Liverpool striker Nathan Eccleston on loan and Australia international defender Dean Herffernan until the end of the season from Aussie side Central Coast Mariners.

Meanwhile Bristol Rovers fans are not happy that their board has left the £1m they received from Southampton for Rickie Lambert untouched but MK Dons did bring a couple of well rated youth players from North London. Mark Randall from Arsenal, and Andros Townsend from Tottenham joined the concrete cows until the end of the season.

One of move of interest was Luke Holden signing for Wrexham. Our former loanee has joined the Dragons on loan until the end of the season. "I'm gutted things didn't work out for me at Charlton." (more) Good luck to him.

Meanwhile after a little bit of research I see that free agents can still be signed by a club at any time in the season as well as requesting emergency loans. The actual loan window does re-open on the February 8th until March 23rd, so still opportunities for Moots to go out on loan.  ¶ 09:49 |

  Travelling with a baby part I So after a 10-week wait our daughter's passport finally arrived from the British consulate in Washington DC, we jumped on the internet and booked us all on a flight to West Palm Beach leaving this afternoon. The trouble is that owing to the Superbowl taking place in Miami, we couldn't get on the direct Miami flight, so we booked to go via Philadelphia to arrive in West Palm Beach in ooh about now.

Our flight arrived in Philly early, our 3-month old behaved impeccably, the elderly lady from Boston who sat next to us cooed over her all the way, we disembarked picked up our stroller, and I was thinking of a quick beer before we made our connection to Florida. The skies were overcast and crisp and I realised I missed the chilled air as we stepped from the plane onto the jet bridge.

Travelling north before going south during the winter in the United States can be fraught with difficulties and that all to familiar feeling of forlornness slapped us in the face when we got into the airport terminal at Philadelphia to see all flights out of here this evening had been cancelled, as had tomorrows.

"We are expecting two feet of snow" we were told by airline staff and the airport will be shut tomorrow. I am so glad I turned the car back and got my sunglasses from home earlier I thought to myself and as for the three pair of shorts I brought....

I need to be in Miami for the start of a conference on Monday night, we are booked on an early flight Sunday morning to Ft Lauderdale. My daughter's introduction to the fun world of airline travel has not started well, although she seems to be enjoying it. Oh and is it snowing outside our downtown Philadelphia window yet? Of course it's not!  ¶ 22:37 |

  Georgia on my mind Back in the very early days of Channel 4 I took a side interest in American Football, a sport similiar to rugby but for girls. However it was only my move to the US that got me to appreciate the inner workings of the game and for the last 6 years I have joined some mates, both Brits and Americans, on a Superbowl weekend which involves generally three things: choosing a location to explore; lots of drinking; and finally finding a boozer with enough enticements to encourage us to spend our spondoolicks whilst watching the whole Superbowl Sunday unravel in front of our bleary eyes.

Unfortunately this year my rediscovered status as a Dad has put a temporary end to my boy's Superbowl weekend. The lads are off to Savannah in Georgia tomorrow and will no doubt take a good look around 'the Hostess City of the South's' charms before on Sunday watch from under a cloud of beer the New Orleans Saints take on Indianapolis Colts in Superbowl XLIV.

My team, the Chicago Bears had a very inconsistent season and said their farewells to the play-off's long before the snow started to fall over Soldier Field. The Bears finished with a record of 7-9, which left them 11th in their Conference. Last year's Superbowl champions meanwhile Pittsburgh Steelers also failed to make the play-off's, which I think is the first time that has happened to a champion since 1982.

A Saints v Colts Superbowl does represent the two teams with the best Conference records but hopefully the game won't resemble a Man U v Chelsea FA Cup final. I detest Peyton Manning for no logical reason except he single-handedly beat the Bears in 2007, and for being on every other commercial on American television, so for that reason alone I will be supporting New Orleans, who as a city is still recovering from the consequences of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Unexpectedly I will be just 70 miles north of Miami in West Palm Beach on Sunday. Our daughter's passport finally arrived and we have made hurried plans to take her on her first vacation this weekend. More on that tomorrow.  ¶ 17:05 |

  Walsall pact Walsall 1 Charlton Athletic 1
After dominating for long periods tonight we travelled back south with just a point, one which we might have considered valuable had it not been for our last two home results. Worryingly we again conceded without being unduly threatened previously, surely Youga doesn't make such a difference that we have hardly kept a clean sheet since he's been out injured and that is now 10 games without letting in a goal in and we are struggling to score more than one at the moment.

According to Parky it just needed "a toe-poke", and judging from the crappy radio commentary we did go for it late on but we have lost that 'we're going to score in a minute' mentality that we had earlier in the season. The quality seems to have left us but I was pleased that Racon returned tonight and he sounded quite involved and won the penalty, converted by Burton. Probably Walsall going down to ten men didn't help our cause as they then got men behind the ball and settled for a point.

We are in a rut no doubt and Colchester moved closer to us with a game in hand after their win over Carlisle but potential play-off rivals Bristol Rovers got stuffed at Orient. Small credit to Parkinson for making some team changes. Solly sounded perfectly acceptable at left back and Akpo does give us some battling ram qualities but for me the substitutions came too late tonight. Five in midfield at Swindon please.

Reports: Charlton Life M1 anoraks; Doctor Kish.  ¶ 19:55 |

  Akpo signed "A familiar face is back in the Charlton ranks after the Addicks signed Akpo Sodje on loan from Sheffield Wednesday for the remainder of the season on Monday." (more)

Good work Parky. Our strike-force is far too lightweight and Akpo represents a different impact option altogether. The 29-year old's contract at Hillsborough runs out in the summer, so a potential permanent deal too I suspect.  ¶ 09:28 |

  McDuff What is wrong with Izale McLeod? The on-loan striker was dropped from Peterborough's game at relegation rivals Palarse on Saturday due to "disciplinary reasons." Apparently Posh manager Mark Cooper attempted to send McLeod back to Charlton but Parky said bugger off as the loan agreement is until the end of the season. The exact thing happened a year ago with Millwall, you may remember.

Meanwhile and I am not sure if this is unrelated but this morning Boro sacked manager Mark Cooper after 8 weeks in the post. This the same board that sacked Darren Ferguson of course. What is wrong with these football chairmen?  ¶ 08:57 |