carlisle home. what was the score? won 1-0 It sounded like another riveting night of cup action down at the Valley earlier this evening. We won and, er that was about it. 8,190 hardy souls suffered probably in silence until the 57th minute when Darren Bent turned in Romm's parried shot from a tight angle.

I'm glad Benty scored but if he doesn't then who does? He has scored 4 of our 5 goals this season but if you take it back to the final 18 games of last season Darren has scored 12 of the teams' 18 goals. More worrying is that the next highest goalscorers in that period (start of February) are Bothroyd (4) and Hughes (3)!

The headlines in tomorrow's papers won't surprisingly be about the big action cup night at The Valley but the BBC Panorama show regarding alleged bungs, backhanders and tapping up of players. Of course Chelsea feature again. Oh, you do surprise me but we all know the FA will do sweet FA.

What does get on my wick is that on Saturday straight-up-Charlton get beat by a team managed by that nice man 'Arry, who featured in Panorama's allegations and are owned by a dodgy Russian, whose origin of his millions is somewhat dubious and has a father that is the subject of an international arrest warrant over alleged arms-for-oil dealings. Bitter? me? Nah.

Dowie watch: He was somewhat limited tonight to the changes that he could make. Pouso, Holland and Hughes weren't fit. Ashton did play and Sankofa, John and Walker sat on the bench. It was comfy if not pretty but ID passed his first Cup test.
Quote: "He wanted to play tonight, I could have rested him but his face lit up when he found out he was in the side - and he has certainly made amends. He takes criticism in a positive manner and tonight he chased and harried and I thought it was a terrific performance.” On Darren Bent

Opinions from those that were there: All Quiet; BBC Sport; Telegraph.  ¶ 23:23