Charlton Athletic 2 v 1 Sunderland

Sunday 27th May 2019
Football League Play-Off Final
Wembley Stadium, London
Admission: £30.00
Programme: £10.00
Attendance: 76,155

This would be almost certainly my last game of the season, certainly for a men's game, and without doubt I would leave the best and biggest occasion of the season till late. For me personally, perhaps ever, as it would be the first time I would watch Charlton Athletic at Wembley and at a cup final (of sorts), having had to miss the club's last visit to the old Wembley back in 1998, which was famously also in a play off final, also against Sunderland, which ended in a 4-4 draw after extra time, with Charlton winning the penalty shoot-out to claim promotion to the Premier League.

Whilst I had only watched Charlton three times this season, one of those to watch the semi-final against Doncaster Rovers, partly due to my enjoyment of groundhopping there days but mostly in despair for the atmosphere around the club under the disastrous reign of Roland Duchâtelet, which is now in limbo as he claims he tries to sell the club, I would certainly move heaven and earth to get a ticket for this occasion. As it turned out, it would be a fairly straightforward process, with plenty of tickets still available when they were released to all those with a purchasing history with the club on Monday. With the better (and more expensive) seats being snapped up by season ticket holders in the first two days of sale, I chose a seat that would offer an excellent panoramic view of the action - fairly close to the half way line, but being in the upper tier, quite some way from the pitch. As to be expected, the atmosphere was terrific in the build up to the game, with the tube rammed to capacity, and the walk along Wembley Way from Wembley Park stadium to the ground was full of energy, excitement, nervousness, but all in very good spirits. I always buy programmes given the opportunity, and I certainly wanted a souvenir of the big occasion today, a sentiment that is clearly taken advantage of on days like this, with an eye-watering £10.00 being charged today. Whilst it could hardly be described as value of money for the price tag alone, it was a very good programme, A4 sized, glossy, consisting of 100 pages and packed with information about both clubs and the history of the play-offs.

Given the background of Charlton's ownership situation, resulting in a squad being so threadbare that manager Lee Bowyer has not been able to name a full complement of substitutes on the bench at times, top scorer Karlan Grant being sold in January without an adequate replacement being brought in, not to mention the on-off saga of the club being sold and Duchâtelet's erratic (to put it kindly) ownership, it has been an incredible of achievemt from the manager and the squad to finish the league season in third place, and then reach the Play-Off final. To do that, they nearly made a mess of things against Doncaster Rovers, after a commanding away performance in the first leg from which they should have taken a three goal lead back to The Valley but ended up with just the one goal lead thanks to a late goal conceded. Doncaster would win the second leg, 2-3 after extra time, after a disappointing performance from Charlton, but they prevailed in the end, 4-3 on penalties. Sunderland had looked a good bet to claim automatic promotion for much of the season, but a disappointing end to their season saw them finish in fifth place, vector beating Portsmouth 1-0 on aggregate thanks to a 1-0 home win in the first leg. Various omens may have favoured Sunderland. They played at Wembley less than two months ago, when they lost on penalties to Portsmouth, and in the league encounters between Charlton and Sunderland, Sunderland won 2-1 at home thanks to a very late goal in added on time on the opening day of the season, whilst the return fixture at The Valley finished 1-1. Sunderland's record at Wembley has not been good either, not winning there since lifting the FA Cup in 1973.

As a Charlton fan, all I was hoping for was that we would not freeze on the big occasion, and that we would get off to a solid start. Unfortunately, it turned out to be something of a nightmare start for the Addicks. With 4 minutes on the clock, defender Naby Sarr, under no pressure, decided to pass back to keeper Dillon Phillips, but it was too firmly struck and to the side of Phillips' boot, which the ball rolled past and into the empty net, with the Charlton fans holding their heads in disbelief. And perhaps not surprisingly, that spurred Sunderland on and there was a feeling that Charlton really needed to weather the storm to stay in the game. That they did, and slowly the tide turned as Charlton managed to mount some attacks, and they equalised on 35 minutes, when Lyle Taylor crossed low from the right across the box, evading everyone until on-loan Ben Purrington tapped the ball in at the far post, to send the Charlton masses into wild celebration, with keeper Phillips undoubtedly the most relieved man in the house. What a time it was for Purrington to score his first Charlton goal, and his first ever league goal. With no further real chances during the remainder of the half, the scoreline remained level at 1-1.

As good as Naby Sarr has been for Charlton this season, he was looking like an accident waiting to happen today, not just with how own goal, but also he had picked up a yellow card and came close to giving away a penalty. For the most part, the second half was a battle with few goalscoring opportunities, but what would turn out to be a key moment was the introduction of Johnny Williams on 70 minutes. Williams endured what appeared to be an unhappy, injury plagued spell on loan with Sunderland last season, and his introduction really injected plenty of momentum and attacking intent to his team, as he ran at players, drawing fouls, and generally causing a real nuisance of himself to the Sunderland defence. But there were no real clear-cut chances created and it looked certain that the game would head into extra time, with strong echos of that 1998 play-off final between the two clubs. But four minutes into added on time, the ball was swung into the box, and after an initial shot was blocked, Patrick Bauer struck the ball home, via deflection off a defender, to send the players and fans into wild celebrations. With 6 seconds left of normal time, there was no time for Sunderland to respond, and Charlton defied a traumatic season off the pitch with promotion on it. The celebrations continued long after the final whistle, with the Charlton players receiving medals and a trophy, whilst the fans sang and danced along to club and celebratory tracks.

It was a cruel way for Sunderland to lose, but arguably they should have sealed automatic promotion, without the need for the lottery of the play-offs. As for Charlton, one fears copious dollops of reality will soon kick in, with the enormity of the task of competing in the second tier next season with a manager who wants to sell and does not want to invest, many of the squad will be out of contract or return to their parent clubs this summer, and even the future of Lee Bowyer and coach Johnnie Jackson very much up in the air. But such worries are for the future, as Charlton fans can enjoy a rare moment of glory.

Video highlights of the match can be viewed by clicking here.

Cascadia 6 v 3 Chagos Islands

Saturday 25th May 2019
CONIFA International Friendly
Church Road, Whyteleafe
Admission: £8.00
Programme: £1.00
Attendance: 179

Despite reaching late May and league seasons, for the most part, have been done and dusted for the best part of a month now, there are still games to be found to eke out the season a little more before my summer recess. Always keen to take in unusual fixtures, this was a game I would very much look forward to taking in once it was announced, between two members of the CONIFA organisation.

I had visited Church Road earlier this season, last November, although there was enough different about today's visit to make it worth the trip for a revisit to the ground alone. Whereas then I drove, this time I would be letting the train take the strain, with the ground just a ten minute walk away from Whyteleafe train station. November's visit was also on a midweek evening, with persistent heavy rain ensuring a good soaking whenever exposed to the elements, whereas today was a warm, sunny day, enabling visitors to fully appreciate a very pleasant setting, surrounded by trees, and with steep hills close by in the background. Perhaps it was due to the warm weather that the smell of rubber from the 3G pitch was pronounced today. A commemorative ticket was issued on admission, which was a very nice touch, and an 8 page programme was available, in full colour and covering the basics in terms of welcome messages, introductions to both teams and expected squad listings.

Cascadia is quite a new organisation representing a region on the west coast of North America, comprising the US States of Washington and Oregon, and the Canadian province of British Columbia. They played their first ever fixture at last summer's CONIFA World Football Cup as a wild card entry, and they did quite well, claiming sixth place out of 16 in the final standings,winning three of their fixtures and losing their last on penalties. The six fixtures played at the 2018 World Football Cup are the only fixtures Cascadia have played before today, although they have a home fixture against Darfur to look forward to in July, to be played in Washington. Today would be the fourth time I have watched the Chagos Islands, most recently just a month ago, when they triumphed 2-3 against International Surrey Football at Merstham. According to the current CONIFA rankings alone, Cascadia would be big favourites to win today, in tenth place whereas Chagos Islands down in 36th place. But it is difficult to read too much into those rankings, as they are only updated twice a year, most recently last October, and the Chagos Islands may benefit from being a close knit outfit, and perhaps buoyed by the excellent news that the UN is cranking up the pressure on the United Kingdom to relinquish control of the Chagos Islands and allow second and third generation Chagossians the opportunity to return to their spiritual homeland, having been forbidden from even visiting, let alone live on, the archipelago since 1973.

On a warm, sunny afternoon, this match started quite evenly, until Cascadia opened the scoring on 22 minutes, Callum Powell running onto a ball played forward before striking the ball low across the keeper and into the bottom right corner. Less than two minutes later and Cascadia doubled their lead, when Chase Boone tucked the ball home after Max Oldham's deflected shot was parried by the keeper. But Chagos Islands pulled a goal back on 34 minutes with a good goal, a low curling shot struck from the edge of the area by Hanslie Sagaie which went in just inside the post, which the keeper may have slightly misjudged. But right on the stroke of half time, Cascadia restored their two goal lead, Angelo Calfo powerfully heading home at the far post from a corner. Immediately following the kick-off, the referee blew his whistle for half time.

Within a couple of minutes of the restart, it seemed like game over as Cascadia scored their fourth, Oldham kept on dribbling forward before eventually poking the ball past the keeper. But just a minute later, the Chagossians were awarded a penalty when their player was pushed over as he was running to the right edge of the penalty area. Mervyn Bunjun slammed the ball into the left side of the goal. And they would go on to have their best spell of the match, but could not quite pull another goal back, and on 76 minutes, Cascadia scored their fifth. A Chagos attack broke down, leading to a quick counter attack, with Kyle Lemon playing in Luke Powell and ran towards goal before lashing a shot past the keeper and into the far corner. And on 81 minutes, Cascadia scored their sixth, Boone scoring his second, converting a low cross with the ball squirming through the keeper. But on 89 minutes, the Chagossians were gifted a goal, when the Cascadia keeper unnecessarily tried to dribble the ball away from Andrew Heroseau, and his eventual attempted clearance ricocheted off of Heroseau's boot and the ball bounced into the empty net. Cascadia had time to come close to scoring another following another quick counter attack, a shot going just wide of the far post. But the scoreline was convincing enough as it was.

This was a most entertaining afternoon, with the game full of attacking intent, played in a very good spirit and in gloriously warm and sunny conditions, with a pleasantly relaxed atmosphere around the ground. Cascadia certainly deserved the victory, but it was good to see a lively performance by the Chagossians rewarded with three goals. Their next game comes Sunday, when they travel to Yorkshire to take on the Parishes of Jersey.

Video footage of the entire match can be viewed by clicking here.

US Saint Omer 0 v 1 SC Hazebrouck

Sunday 20th May 2019
Championnat Régional 1 (Hauts de France), Groupe B
Stade Gaston Bonnet, Saint-Omer
Admission: €5.00
Programme: None
Attendance: 400 (estimate)

I was mainly inspired to make a swift return visit to northern France today by the excellent deal currently being offered by P&O Ferries, for a car day trip from Dover to Calais, with 6 bottles of wine thrown in for £27. Not fancying a drive too far into France, I contented myself with a 30 mile drive inland, for this game in the sixth tier of French football, between two clubs right in the mix to win the league and claim the one automatic promotion berth available.

The Stade Gaston Bonnet is located just to the south west of the town centre, and is part of quite a large sporting complex consisting of various sporting pitches and other facilities, and to enter the football ground, it is necessary to buy a ticket from an outer window of the brick clubhouse building adjacent to the entrance gate. The clubhouse can be accessed immediately to the left of the entrance, with a small bar area and no seating available. To the right of the entrance, and straddling the half way line, is an all-seater stand, offering decent unobstructed views of the action, unless one sits close to the one side wall. There is just hard standing on brick type gravel around the rest of the pitch, which stretches some way back, with a slight incline back from a step. Looking opposite the stand, a steep bank provides the background to two thirds of the length, whilst behind the stand, the town's cathedral and town hall are both visible. A large but basic electronic scoreboard is situated in one corner. Not surprisingly in France, and particularly at this level, no programmes were produced, nor were team sheets made available, although the club has produced programmes in the past

With three games left to play, just two points separate the top three clubs, two of who would meet here today. Saint Omer led the table, having won 15 and drawn five of their 23 league games, whilst Hazebrouck were two points behind, in third place, having won 15 and drawn three of their 23 league games. So there was a lot to play for here, all the more so as the club in second place, Stade Portelois, one point behind Saint Omer and one point ahead of Hazebrouck, were at home to second bottom Gamaches AS today. When these two teams met in late March, Saint Omer won 0-1.

Unfortunately the weather was not particularly kind today, as light drizzle greeted my arrival in Calais and it would barely stop for the rest of the day. And perhaps unsurprisingly for a match with much at stake, the first half was a cagey affair, with the opening half hour in particular devoid of real goalscoring opportunities. St Omer then created three decent chances, a firm header from a cross going just wide on 36 minutes, a minute later following a quick break a shot from the edge of the area was reflected just wide, and from the resultant corner, a goal bound header was blocked by a defender. But the scoreline would remain goalless at the break.

After barely threatening in the first half, the visitors were much stronger after the break, and within a minute of the restart, a drilled low cross from the right just evaded a tap in at the far post. But on 49 minutes, Hazebrouck did take the lead, when a low cross from the right by Thomas Fontaine was deflected goalwards off defender Deforter, and wrong footed, the keeper Vandionant couldn't quite keep the ball out. St Omer certainly had their chances to rescue a point. On 61 minutes, a ball swirled in from the right dropped on the top of the crossbar, while they thought they had equalised on 73 minutes, when a free kick just outside the outer corner of the penalty area was dinked in and Hoguet powerfully headed the ball into the net, but the linesman had raised his flag for offside. It is fair to say the home team were not happy with the decision, and their coach got sent from the dugout for protesting too vociferously. On 82 minutes, St Omer saw a loose ball drilled from the edge of the area go just wide, whilst Hazebrouck came close to a second on 84 minutes, when their player danced through the St Omer midfield far too easily, and his eventual low shot hit the outside of the post. St Omer did try to throw everything at getting an equaliser, sending the keeper up for the last couple of set pieces, and six minutes of added on time certainly gave them hope, but it was not to be, and the disappointment amongst the St Omer players, staff and supporters certainly reflected the gravity of the defeat here in their quest for the title and the sole guaranteed promotion berth.

With Stade Portelois unsurprisingly winning their match today, they rise to the top of the table, and with two games left to play, the title is surely now theirs to lose, although they do close the season with two away games. Hazebrouck rose to second, a point adrift, and a point ahead of St Omer, who have gone from looking favourites at the start of this game, now look rank outsiders to win the division.