3-1 up with 15 mins to go. Disappointed the Millwall team and subs are listed but not the Addicks. I presume Harriott is not playing? But I see Harris is. I wasn't sure if he was still with us.
3 - 1 at finish. League Champions. Absolutely brilliant. Many congratulations to all the players and staff and well done to the posters here who go along to support them and report back to us. Now for the National Play-offs. Considering our performances against Chelsea and Man Utd we have nothing to be afraid of there, but for me the main job is done. Play-offs are always a bit of a lottery. Are over-age players allowed in the play-off rounds? Could have Harriott back for the play-offs. After that our next trick will be to hang on to them all when the big clubs come calling.
We are allowed 3 outfield players plus a keeper... so the 1st team should lend them (if after May 4th) Hamer Morrow JJ (as Capt) Kermit
Job well done by our under-21's. I thought our entire defence was outstanding today, admittedly went to sleep for one corner, but apart from that handled everything Millwall threw at us extremely well, and played the ball out well, too. Haynes shouldn't have taken the penalty, and Fox told him so. Piggott deserved another goal, he won the penalty, should have won another, and looks as though his all-round game is improving quite nicely. Quite a decent crowd there, a few Millwall supporters n all.
I have just got back from the training ground,a well deserved 3-1 win,it could have been more.Danny Haynes made the first when the ball was played over the top and Haynes squared for Pigott to tap in.The second came from a cross by Fox which was headed back across goal by Pigott for Cook to tap in.The third came from Azeez in the second half. Ade Azeez looked very dangerous when he came on for Haynes and should have had a couple more. Champions and well done to both the U21s and the U18s for what they have done this season.I won't mention the penalty miss today. Team Pope Cousins,Feely,Lennon,Fox Jordan,Stephens,Poyet,Cook. Haynes,Pigott Subs Azeez for Haynes,Harris for Poyet.Subs not used. Phillips,Ajayi,Gerard.
Thanks Dick. We obviously wanted to win this one, so have Lennon and Pigott now overtaken Ajayi and Azeez in the pecking order, or were the latter two carrying knocks? Including the three over-age players could have gone either way, but it worked out OK. How did Stephens do? Was his heart in it? Thanks for not mentioning the penalty miss. I think it is better if none of us do.
You couldn't fault Stephens' attitude today, or Haynes for that matter. IMO Piggott is becoming a better all-round player than Azeez, so he may well have overtaken him in the pecking order. As for Lennon over Ajayi, I don't know, he certainly justified his selection, Ajayi was on the bench, but Feely is probably the nearest of the 3 to consideration for the first-team squad.
no promotion, at least none that I know of, we play for the title of...I'm not sure really...Category 2 status academy champions nationwide ?!! Our opponents are still uncertain as the T'Northern league are still a bit t'behind with their games, so as it stands Southern runner up Cardiff play Northern winners Leicester and southern WINNERS CHARLTON play one of the following Derby, Notty Forest, Huddersfield - bring on the Smurfs or is it Penguins these days?, Leeds or finally Birmingham, theoretically at this stage any of these could become T'Northern league runners up
We are now in the National play-off finals There is no automatic promotion, we would need to up-grade to a cat 1 Academy to go up a league
For those that don't follow the u21s too closely, I would point out that this success is all the more remarkable because the core of the team is made up from eight players who only graduated from the u18s last season, so in most matches we have been at an age disadvantage. They are Osborne, Ajayi, Fox, Cousins, Jordan, Pigott, Azeez and Harriott. We do have older u21s but most of those did not play regularly for the u21s. Pope, Mambo, and Michael Smith have been out on loan a lot, Bover and Feely were only available half a season each, Evina only played a few games, and Bradley Pritchard, who looks and plays like an u21, is actually 47 years old. I think the only one who played fairly regularly is Courtney Harris who came on a long loan from Fulham. I am not sure if he is now our player? Often slots in the team were filled with u18s like Poyet, Gerard, Lennon, Phillips, Sho-Silva and Muldoon, which brought the average age down even more. On the other hand, we often used some or all of the "three over-age outfield players" and "overage goalkeeper" facility but I think the record will show that did not improve the results. In most cases the older players were triallists who did not impress or first-team squad players more interested in carefully nursing their fitness. That in turn makes the u18s winning their league again so impressive. To lose eight such excellent players to the u21s and be able to replace them with a new batch suggests we have a real production line of talent and that it wasn't just a fluke good year last time.
That is a very fair and accurate assessment Eddie and totally agree with you as to how impressive this academy really is and the depth of talent coming through, a real testament to how good Charlton is as a club! Even more frustrating these players aren't being tested against the likes of the Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, West ham etc etc academy players, where I have no doubt they would hold their own as they have done in previous years. That aside congratulations to all the academy and development players on this seasons achievements.
On second thoughts it is probably just that Pigott and Azeez are different types of player. Azeez is more like Haynes, very pacy, and for whatever reason , they wanted Haynes to play, so Azeez had to wait until Haynes went off.
