No thread so far so thought I'd post one. Anyone else on their way there? Be good to see Wilson and Cook in a CAFC kit (as well as seeing said kit in the flesh). Apparently there's a spanish trialist in goal. Expect most of the 22 Charlton faces to be familiar though.
Good first half, no goals but created a bit. Pritchard has been the best player first half. No hollands, Hayes, Sullivan, hamer, Wilson.
Teams (first half): Pope, Cousins, Evina, Taylor, Cort, Harriott, Green, Pritchard, Bover, Kermorgant, BWP. (second half): Jacobo, Wiggins, Mambo, Morrison, Solly, Jackson, Stephens, Wagstaff, Haynes, Smith, Cook.
4-0, Haynes with a swooping header. We've hit the bar and forced a few saves. Smith, cook and Stephens have looked sharp
Texts from tewkes: Afternoon everyone - goalless at half time here but a very lively and skilful game with RBI, Harriot, Pritchard and Evina playing some lovely stuff down the left hand side. BWP getting through a lot of work. Kermie looks heavy. Evina not looking so solid in defence where a bloke with a pineapple on his head a la Trevor Lee and another with red mohican are giving him a tough time. Good news - Michael Smith warming up at half time. Tewkes Spanish (not Swedish!) triallist in goal for us - Cook on and roaming all over the pitch looking very fine indeed. Smith excellent. Penalty! JJ!! 4-O lovely glancing header from Danny Haynes - well de served. Waggy puts a sitter over the bar and that's it. Lovely stuff. I'm sure he'll do a full report when back (hint hint).
Pope 6 - decent game, handling wasn't great but was under a lot of pressure and clattered a fair bit so we'll let him off. Cousins 6 - seemed awkward on the ball a lot and control was fairly poor, got into some great positions though. Taylor 7 - solid as always but a lot more mobile than normal Cort 6.5 - solid as always Evina 6.5 - decent attacking performance, got caught out of position a fair bit but tracked back well. Green 6 - most crosses got blocked and average set piece delivery. Got stuck in a lot more than usual, but sadly did his trademark stud-stamp once or twice. Pritchard 7 - solid performance. Some great tackling and got himself into great attacking positions. Bover 8 - first half MOTM. Worth a notable mention considering how much I've criticised him every time I've seen him (sorry Ruben). Played as a standard CM (instead of out wide or behind the striker). Simply sublime passing and made a very good partnership with Pritchard. Harriott 6 - bursted with energy and got into some great positions. But his final ball was consistently appalling. Worth saying though, he did very very well to get into the positions to shoot/cross. Kermorgant 7 - usual performance, some great passing, quality in the air and a bit of flair. Nearly scored from the half way line with a volley (though to be fair it was right at the keeper). Looks like he's put on a few pounds in the past few months though. BWP 6.5 - played pretty well but didn't play off the defenders shoulders in the way he normally does, thus very few goalscoring opportunities. -------------- Jacobo 6 - not much to judge him on as he rarely had anything to do. Looked very comfortable whilst training at half-time. One Sullivan-esque mis-placed goal-kick but aside from that seemed decent. Solly 7 - got forward very well and whipped in some great crosses Mambo 6 - had little to do. Few poor headers from corners. Morrison 6.5 - pretty solid, though terribly mis-judged the bounce of one ball and consequently got caught way out of position. Wiggins 7.5 - attacked down the left-flank very well, his pace really spelt trouble. Waggy 6.5 - bursted with energy and pace and thus caused some trouble. Should really have got goal number 5 but fluffed it way over, and at one point instead of passing, managed to bring the ball to a stop and trip over his own feet. Jackson 6.5 - played CM today. Did very well to help craft moves and put in some decent tackles. Well placed penalty. Stephens 7.5 - played very deep (which I feel isn't his strongest position) but did very well. Put in a lot of accurate challenges, showed skillful control. One misplaced pass. Cook 7 - early signs are good. Cut-across very well onto his right-foot (whilst playing on the left). Pretty pacey and caused a fair few problems. Haynes 7.5 - his pace and control caused a lot of problems and his headed goal was very well placed. Think he may have helped himself down a bit for the penalty though. Smith 7.5 - very impressed by this lad. Not only did he hold the ball up well, but he showed great control of it and laid it off very well. Perhaps some of his passes were a bit soft, but seems like a really great prospect and a cracking find. Few brief points: -First half passing display was a real joy to watch. Very little hoofing, instead the midfield constantly maintained possession with great passing and attacking movement. -Disappointed not to see Wilson. -Wellings second-half keeper was the fattest I've ever seen. -Welling have upgraded to colour programmes and proper match-tickets. -The Black away kit is actually not that bad. The white pattern on the top of the socks makes the kit look a lot more interesting. -For those who didn't know, Loick Pires and Jack Parkinson (amongst others) have left Welling. Jon Main (who scored a decent number of goals for AfC Wimbledon) has signed. As have a number of others.
PS, I believe this is the goalkeeper we had on trial. www.en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobo_Sanz_Ovejero
Still don't know why people are against Sullivan. I thought he was immense in our run in the season before last. I'll always strangely remember the save from evina at boundary park. Funny how it turned out.
WeWant, I'm not going to attempt to better that very fine report. Absolutely agree with RBI as the player of the first half, beautiful passing skills, lovely shapes with Pritchard (who was well clobbered throughout the half) and Evina. He's bulked up a bit and consequently didn't get shoved off anything, which was his main problem last season. He needs to lose the purple boots and the dodgy pompadour though. Second half, it would be difficult had you not been there to see it, to describe how good Michael Smith was. He's lost the 'gangly youth' look and he's now just big and solid, very solid. Folks, he's got the lot - not only can he head (as you'd expect) he can shield, distribute, tackle and his first time touch was wonderful to behold. He hit a rasping shot on the volley from a Solly cross that hit the keeper, who didn't even sniff it. Finally he set up a chance on a plate for Waggy, who duly blasted over. With seven on the bench this season, he's going to give a few sides serious problems. A great way to spend a damp afternoon.
