Charlton 1 County 1
Plus! All the build-up ahead of Northampton’s trip to SK3 tonight
Tuesday 22 October 2024
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Dear County fans, Stopfordians, Charlton and Northampton supporters, and anyone else from The Football Family joining us today, a very warm welcome to your Tuesday edition of The Scarf My Father Wore.
James Bridge and Simon Holt join us today with their thoughts on Saturday’s lively encounter at The Valley. We’ve also got Ian Brown, Dan Culverwell and Nick Lee in the building ahead of tonight’s game against Northampton, which I don’t think you can describe as “must win” with us sitting 9th in League One, but we could certainly do with all three points after just one win in our last seven.
Today’s edition is sponsored by MKM Manchester South. A big thank you to Mark and James.
Finally, I’m currently walking every street in Stockport to raise money for mental health charity Mentell. If you’d like to make a donation to help me reach my target, please click here.
Total distance so far: 176.31 miles
Total steps so far: 284,130
Total raised so far: £2,027
Total completed streets so far: 399 (Click here for the full list, which includes reports and photos from every day of the walk.)
Further information on the walk can be found by clicking here.
Des Junior
✍️ Saturday’s match in one word
James: Frustrating.
Simon: Stressful!
🤔 Pre-match thoughts
James: I was expecting a tough game, as County were unbeaten away and we struggle to score goals.
Simon: That it’s great to be going back to places like Charlton in the league after the Dark Days. That they’re a good team and it was going to be a tough game. That I was interested to see how Powell got on after DC directly challenged him publicly in his pre-game interview.
🧐 Post-match thoughts
James: Disappointed not to win. I think Charlton had enough chances to win the game.
Simon: That we were extremely lucky to get a point! I didn’t think having Norwood and Powell together in midfield works – not enough legs between them. We gave up possession in midfield far too easily and the strikers were way too isolated as a result. I thought we dug in well after the sending off to get a point, so I was proud of them for that. Overall a point away is always OK against a decent team though.
🔴 Verdict on Charlton
James: First half mostly missing an end product, but played much quicker and more purposefully in the second, and with a bit of luck should've won.
Simon: They looked great in the first two thirds of the pitch, but wasted a lot of chances. If they had a good striker they’d have beaten us about 3-1. They looked dominant in midfield, but vulnerable to the counter attack on a few occasions. Shame we didn’t make more of that really.
🟡 Verdict on County
James: Looked solid and worked hard, but lacked a bit of flair.
Simon: We looked great when we were aggressive, but we weren’t aggressive enough for enough of the game – especially in the middle portion before and after half-time. I thought we were too wasteful in possession. However, we’re a promoted team and this is a difficult place to go. Despite clinging on for large parts of the game, we could have won it if Barry had been less selfish when he should have squared it to Powell during the second half. I love Barry like everyone else, but his decision making is probably why he’s playing at this level as opposed to higher up.
🔴 Top Addick
James: Tyreece Campbell.
Simon: I thought their #7, Tyreece Campbell, was really threatening for them. Almost everything good they did came through him.
🎩 Top Hatter
James: Corey Addai.
Simon: I’m not the biggest fan of Nick Powell usually, but I thought he was excellent on Saturday, especially with his aerial presence. Also got clattered for the pen of course. I also thought Odin Bailey did really well when he came on – chased down everything and to me was a big reason why we got one point instead of none.
👂 Atmosphere
James: The County fans were in full voice initially, but as the game progressed the atmosphere overall really picked up.
Simon: Really good. Being concentrated in an away end always helps. The new Louie Barry song especially got a big airing – I think I’ve just about worked out the words! There were a couple of moaners but I liked how we really got behind the team when we were under the cosh, especially after we went down to 10 men.
🙏 Hopes for the rest of the season
James: I think Charlton have the potential to make the play-offs, but we'll need to score more goals.
Simon: I think both us and Charlton will finish somewhere between 6th and 10th, and for a first season after promotion I’m more than happy with that. We’re not quite playing to our potential yet – not sure we quite know our best team – but I’m hoping that will come between now and Christmas. I haven’t seen anybody in this league so far who look miles better than us, though of course it’s still relatively early days. By the same token, we’re not miles better than most of the other teams, either.
😀 Best part of the day
James: I always enjoy watching players who've graduated from the academy looking comfortable and at home at first team level.
Simon: As an exile, seeing my mates and my community is always the best part. It was also great to go to a big stadium like The Valley and feel “yeah, we’re back here now on equal terms, this feels good”.
😡 Worst part of the day
James: Not quite being able to get the win our performance probably deserved.
Simon: Horsfall’s red card. No idea whether it was deserved or not, but I really thought defeat was inevitable when that happened. Happily I was wrong!
The British Library receives a copy of every single book published in the UK. In the same fashion, Des Junior believes a detailed record of every County game should be preserved for the history books. So here’s the full story of our 1-1 draw at Charlton Athletic on Saturday 19 October, as told from his County-related WhatsApp groups…
3.11pm: What was the keeper doing there for the penalty? Clueless. Far end from us but assume it was a fair decision.
3.13pm: Right decision but a lot of refs would have bottled that.
4.27pm: Fast asleep for their equaliser. Can’t say they don’t deserve it. We’ll lose this.
4.48pm: Horsfall sent off. That’s because of the crap first yellow.
5.20pm: I don't think we were that bad. We're still learning how to play at this level. Charlton were good at keeping possession and stretching us. We contained them for most of the game but weren't aggressive enough and didn't cause them enough problems. Two half-decent teams sharing a point. They'll say they deserved more but they weren't good enough to win.
5.24pm: I don’t mind us not being as good on a matter of quality. What I don’t like is we played like all those National League North nobodies we hated when we were down there. Picking up cards for time wasting, trying to put the ball in the corner, carelessness on the ball. It’s horrible to watch and it’s not what this iteration of County ought to be. No issue with the effort and application, really pleased we got a point, but not loving the nature of the performance at all.
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County v Northampton
Des Junior loves writing about County. But he can never be arsed doing match previews. They’re a bit dull, aren’t they? Will Collar’s out for a month with diarrhoea… blah blah blah…tomorrow’s referee has handed out more cards than Moonpig…blah blah blah…County haven’t won at Birmingham for a thousand years.
Fortunately, he has a number of fellow County content creators to call upon. Here’s their thoughts, general chit-chat and score predictions, ahead of the Cobblers’ first trip to Stockport since January 2023 (County won 2-0).
Ian Brown, All Things Stockport County
County 2 Northampton 1
Saturday seems to have really divided the fanbase. Some are saying it’s a great point away from home against a Charlton side who beat the leaders last time out, some are saying it’s a horrible performance full of the dark arts which isn’t what County are about. Thoughts?
My view is that it’s all of the above. It was a good point away from home and at a difficult place to travel to, as the Hollywood set will learn this Saturday.
Defensively we were amazing whilst under pressure that was continually being amplified by the referee’s perfidious card usage and slack interpretation of the game’s laws.
But we also erred massively throughout the game, constantly being drawn into matching the Addicks’ mastery of the dark arts. To see experienced players such as Norwood and Touray get senseless bookings for time wasting was beyond annoying, and Fraser Horsfall’s day might have ended better had he not indulged similarly earlier on when impeding Charlton’s keeper, earning another stupid booking.
So, a curate’s egg of a performance then, but a valuable point.
Tonight I’m going for 2-1 to County, and hope DC plays Tanto and Louie up front in partnership!
Ian follows County home and away, producing detailed match reports every week, along with lots of other great content. Head over to hedgegrower.blogspot.com.
Dan Culverwell, The Scarf Bergara Wore
County 3 Northampton 0
No Fraser Horsfall tonight. What would you do with the defence?
We discussed this on yesterday’s Courtyard Clubcall with the census of opinion going with a back four, with Hughes or maybe Connolly replacing Horsfall. The thought is that Hughes will give us a bit more aerial advantage with Northampton’s Tom Eaves being the tallest in their team at six foot two.
Jay Mingi must play if fit enough – we haven’t conceded a goal whilst he’s been on the pitch, but let one in within 90 seconds of him being substituted on Saturday. That suggests Mingi, Hughes, Pye and Touray is the obvious choice of a starting back four in front of Addai.
Dan is part of The Scarf Bergara Wore team, hosting live County podcasts every Wednesday at 8pm. Click here for links.
Nick Lee, SK3 TV
County 2 Northampton 1
As a collective, do County fans need to take a chill pill (or whatever the kids say these days) and take a step back to realise just how far we've come in such a short space of time?
I'm probably the worst person to ask that question to, because every time I hear people suggest you can't complain because we used to be in the sixth tier it pushes me closer and closer to a full-on homicidal rage. We have indeed come a long way. But that doesn't mean that the team is immune from any sort of criticism whatsoever. It's like having terrible sex and deciding that it's fine because for the first sixteen years of your life you had none. So yes, we have come very far, but the aim of everyone within the club is that we have further to go, so I'd say it's definitely fair to suggest that elements of our performances have been below par. Look at that, it turns out both things can be true. Wild, I know.
Nick’s one of the co-hosts of SK3 TV, a new podcast for the 2024-25 season, with live episodes every Monday at 8pm. Click here for links.
Tonight’s other predictions
Hatters Matters: County 2 Northampton 1
The County Away Day Show: County 2 Northampton 1
Photo of the day
Edgeley Park, Stockport
Taken prior to kick-off before our last home game against Northampton, here’s me trying to be arty-farty with my camera in the Cheadle End.
Today in SK
🎬 Cinema
Two films at The Savoy Cinema (SK4) this evening. Lee (15) at 6pm, followed by Speak No Evil (15) at 8.30pm. Click here for tickets.
🍺 Food and drink
Bitter £2.30 a pint all day at The Cross Keys (SK8). Plus, discounts on certain lagers between 12pm and 6pm.
If you’re simply in the mood for a couple of pints today, pop along to one of our featured venues such as The Crown (SK2), The Dog & Partridge (SK2), The Crown Inn (SK6) or The Three Tunnes (SK7).
Random photos of County players at other clubs
#30 – Ben Hinchliffe, AFC Fylde
Now into his ninth season at County, it’s hard to imagine Ben in the middle of someone else’s goal, especially AFC Fylde, where he spent a few seasons before coming to EP.
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