Hull 1 Charlton 2

I don't know if Danny Mills is a nice bloke off the pitch, but on it he can be a nasty piece of work. Kicking the ball out after an injury stoppage rather than give it back to the keeper riled the home fans. His time at Leeds didn't endear him to the locals either. And his no compromise attitude to tackling always causes explosive incidents. But because he's 'ours' it's OK. Because he plays in Charlton red we'll forgive him and get right behind him. Last night Danny was never far from the rough stuff, but there was one particular incident at Hull that suggested he's not alone in the Charlton side.

Challenging him as No 1 thug was young, home grown Lloyd Sam. Off the pitch young Lloyd seems a nice, affable chap. But last night he showed the other side to him. Torturing the Hull defence again he put his legs in the way of captain Ashbee's studs. Then he attacked Ashbee's boots with his body and hit Ashbee's hands with his throat. He then had the audacity to grapple with Ashbee, bringing Mills and Co into an '18 man melee'. From where we were at the other end of the ground it looked like the usual huffing and puffing, but clearly Lloyd Sam had to go. It seems that Danny Mills has a challenger.

Apparently we're going to appeal. Haven't we learned our lesson? This is bound to be another frivolous appeal and our new mean machine will be out for four games. Maybe it'll create an opening for mild mannered Ben Thatcher!

The game itself was a tepid affair for 40 minutes and we scored from our first real bit of pressure. It was difficult to see from the other end, but the ref could easily have given a free kick to the goalkeeper - they usually do if the keeper drops the ball under pressure. But the goal, and then the fracas, certainly livened things up. In the second half we knocked it about nicely and seemed to play on the break. We certainly improved, and ZZ held the ball up nicely for big Chris to seal it at 2-0. Except it didn't seal it up. Hull pulled a goal back and it was typical Charlton. We let a comfortable result turn into blind panic. There were stoppages and injuries galore, but we held on. In fact we didn't realise the final whistle had blown because we had someone being treated for injury at the time. Buut it was a good game to win and made the journey home seem that more palatable.

As for the journey, we went via a working day in Sheffield, so we got there in good time. Except that accidents and a bloody fair meant that it took about an hour to get parked. We settled for the hospital car park, about ten minutes walk. It took ages to get away and we hit the road at about 10.15pm. We passed the two Redwing coaches near Lincoln and were indoors before 1.30am. Apparently the coaches got back at 3.00am.

The KC stadium was fine beer and a variety of pies on offer. And they sell their soft drinks in bottles - with the tops left on. There were no incidents as a result of the Fanta bottle top being left on which begs the question - why can't we have bottle tops at The Valley!

A good night out. I've never seen us lose away at Hull (3-0 and 0-0 previously). Roll on the Tykes on Saturday.

Up The Addicks!

Robin

Chant of the night: 'That's why we're going up, that's why we're...' after we scored at our first attempt on goal after 40 minutes.