Dire Straits

Time to trot out all the hackneyed old cliches, a bad day at the office, it was one of those things, we were not at the races, we did not turn up etc. The simple truth is Charlton were awful and made a poor Walsall side look efficient.

There was not a single player who will have been pleased with his performance. Elliot made a terrific save when faced with a two-on-one situation but his kicking was terrible all afternoon.

It felt as though the team, as well as the crowd, thought all they had to do was turn up to win. Perhaps they were complacent, perhaps playing on Thursday evenong took its toll but there can be no excuses for such a lacklustre performance.

Parkinson made two substitutions at the break, bringing on flair players Reid and Martin but even they failed to ignite the team.

On an afternoon littered with errors, the manager's decision to put short term loanee, Marcel Seip, on the bench ahead of the patient Miguel Llera, was hardly a great morale booster. The club's flirtation with danger, goalkeeping wise, was highlighted by the inclusion of 17-year-old Brandon Hall on the bench. Elliot had been struggling with his hip and Ross Worner was ill.

The goal came midway through the second period when the Addicks gave the ball away, Matt Richards beating Elliot with a crisp drive.

So the unbeaten streak ends at eleven, Charlton fans will be hoping it has as profound an effect on the team as their last defeat did.

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