Welling United 2, Charlton Athletic 0

A lovely beer fueled sunny afternoon at Park View Road, and an enjoyable afternoon’s entertainment, at least if you were a Welling United supporter that is. A healthy attendance of 2360 saw the game, the majority being either neutral or Charlton fans.

If you are a Charlton fan, it was another of those Charlton Athletic nil afternoon’s, with none of the forwards looking remotely likely to score.

Even a few beers in the Guy Earl of Warwick and the Nag’s Head before the game could hardly disguise the abject lack of skill for the best part by these two poor Charlton teams.

The game was barely a minute old when Rhoys Wiggins set the tone of the afternoon by hammering the ball out of the ground-and he wasn’t the only one to do it either.

Charlton had two different teams out today. In the first half we saw Phillips, Wilson, Wiggins, Morrison, Lennon, Browne (Stephen), Holmes-Dennis, Cousins, Munns, Church, and Pigott and the second half saw Pope, Solly, Fox, Gomez, Bikey-Amougou, Nego, Harriott, Jackson, Buyens, Ansah, and Vetokele.

It wasn’t long before the hapless Wiggins then tripped Blaine Hudson in the box and there weren’t too many complaints as Kieron St Amie put the ball passed Phillips in the Charlton goal. It was nearly 2-0 shortly afterwards as Joe Healy rattled the woodwork with Phillips well beaten. Charlton did have a couple of chances through Browne and Pigott but both lacked any real conviction.

Simon Church then did one of his well rehearsed dives in the penalty area with arms to the sky claiming a penalty. Church had one further chance before thankfully being rested at half time, but in all honesty my Nan could have saved his shot. Welling went into the interval 1-0 up, and few could complain that they didn’t deserve it.

We all hoped for a bit of the “old Charlton” in the second half, and it wasn’t long before Chris Solly rifled a ball across the Welling goal, and Harriott crashed Solly’s cross agonisingly wide, when on another day it might have found the net.

Halfway through the second period, and Welling were on the back foot, and Ansah went close with a glancing header, but it went all “pear shaped” shortly after, and somewhat against the run of play as Moses Ashikodi made it 2-0 to the Wings. Moans from the Charlton fans.

Veteokele had a chance near the end but he elected to pass rather than shoot, and the chance was lost, and in the last minute Fox blasted a good chance just over the bar.

Bob Peeters is the second Charlton manager to lose to the Wings. The other being the truly awful Iain Dowie.

Although it’s still early in the pre-season I think Bob Peeters will be slightly concerned about the lack of scoring chances being made. It looked like Pigott, and in particular Simon Church, could have played all afternoon and not found the net. Why is it we always seem to end up with non scoring forwards ?

There are rumours about loan moves for the both Pigott and Church, with Gillingham and Orient being mentioned. I just hope the O’s or the Gills didn’t have a scout at Park View Road this afternoon watching them, or they might be having second thoughts.

How I wish for a Kermorgant type forward. Our forwards today just looked a bit lightweight against the Welling defence, who in reality, didn’t have too much trouble defending their goal. The only forward who looked up to the task was Igor Vetokele.

Perhaps we’ll see some goals in Spain, and just perhaps, Bob Peeters will have a better idea what his best starting eleven are.

The Bexley Bodger

Sint Truiden 0, Charlton Athletic 0. (We will score one day)

Well, here we are again for the second game in two days in the Flemish region of Belgium, somewhere between Hasselt and Tongeren in the province of Limburg. Like yesterday, the weather looks like it’s about to hammer it down.

90 minutes today, and again the team is an eclectic mix of youth, experience and trial players. We also got to see the new red and white home kit being displayed, whilst STVV wore their home kit of yellow shirts and blue shorts.

There are several players I hadn’t seen much of previously, so as a talent spotting exercise it was worth the short trip.

Feel free to dispute my ramblings, but this is how I saw the players performance-

Phillips: Started off a bit shaky with a dropped corner that nearly led to a goal, and also picked up a back pass leading to a free kick about 8 yards out in the centre of goal, which was beaten out somehow. Got better as the game went on and made a couple of decent saves late on. Looks to be a capable deputy to Pope.
Wilson: Usual game from him. Plenty of energy and some decent runs down the wing.
Wiggins: Usual game again. Didn’t look quite fit, but good to have him back.
Bikey: On trial at the moment, but looks like he would be a decent signing. He’s not the quickest of players, and he’s going to pick up lots of cards, but he’s a “man-mountain”, and certainly has a presence about him. Defended well in the area. He’s a “big unit”.
Gomez. Great game for someone so young. Looked composed on the ball, and got forward on occasions. Think we are going to see him breaking into the first team this coming season. With a couple of experienced defenders either side of him he looks very promising.
Daniel: Released by Palace, and I thought he was a defender, but seemed to be playing out of position further forward. Can’t really see him breaking through just yet. Got injured just before half time
Harriott: Not one of his better games, but a useful run out for him. Had trouble getting into the game. Not given much support. Anonymous for most of the time.
Jackson: As dependable as ever, and it looks like we are going to have to rely on him again this year. Took all the free kicks. Looks like we are going to need his goals even more than ever.
Cousins: Normal game from him without really dominating the mid field. Did nothing wrong.
Vetokele: I’m sure he is better than what we saw today, and I guess he needs time to work with the rest of the players. His game ended with a sickening collision with Davy Schollen, the STVV keeper, the latter being carried off on the stroke of half time. Difficult to tell the damage to Igor-possibly a rib injury. Let’s hope he’s OK.
Parzyszek: Difficult to make a judgement on him. Certainly didn’t impress. Tried hard, but lacked service.

And of the second half substitution-

Nego; As yesterday’s game, he got forward well, but still his passing lets him down. Can’t see him getting ahead of Chris Solly and Rhoys Wiggins.
Fox: Quiet game. Did some good covering and read the game well.
Morrison: Only on for a few minutes.
Cywka: Glad it’s not my job to decide whether to sign him or not. He doesn’t do anything wrong, but on the same token doesn’t grab your attention with anything special. He’s a midfield player, and we seem to be playing him wide and out of position. Really need to see more of him. I’m not convinced though.
Ansah: Needs time to “find his feet”, and get more games “under his belt”. From what I’ve seen so far, it’s difficult to imagine we’re going to see too much of him this coming season, despite his “illustrious” father.
Church: Just don’t get me started. Awful. Doesn’t look like a footballer, let alone a current Welsh international player.
Munns: A better game than yesterday and he wanted the ball at every opportunity. Good movement and reasonable passing. Might have scored near the end, but he’s so small it’s difficult to see him breaking into the team.
Moussa: Looks like he could be a decent addition to the squad, but will need time to “bed in”.
Buyens: I’m sure he will become a favourite, but need a bit of time to adjust.

For the second time in two days, the attack barely managed a shot between them, and I’m sure Bob Peeters will be well aware of their severe limitations. We have Reza Ghoochannejhad still to come back from World Cup duties, but even appreciating that these two games don’t mean too much, it’s quite obvious we are going to have goal scoring problems unless better players are signed.

I believe Bob Peeters is quoted as saying that if the players he wants become available, and we get them, he can see us being competitive. It’ll be interesting to see at the start of the season to see if he has been successful.

There were reports in the Belgian press yesterday that STVV were interested in an unnamed Charlton player on loan for the season. Please let it be Simon Church.

At the moment, it looks as if it’s going to be a long season, but it’s still early days. We do need a few quality players from somewhere though.

So, back to blighty tomorrow after savouring some of that Belgian beer tonight, and then off to the Guy Earl of Warwick on Saturday for the Welling United game. From there, it’s pack the mankini and off to Spain for a few days of Sun, Sangria and Soccer.

For anyone remotely interested, the team versus STVV-

Charlton: Dillon Phillips; Lawrie Wilson (Loic Nego), Rhoys Wiggins (Morgan Fox), Andre Bikey (Michael Morrison), Joe Gomez; Kadell Daniel (Tomasz Cywka), Callum Harriott (Moussa), Johnnie Jackson (Jack Munns), Jordan Cousins (Yoni Buyens); Igor Vetokele (Zak Ansah), Piotr Parzyszek (Simon Church)

Sint Truiden (First Half): Schollen, Daeseleire, Kotysch, Nirisarike, Odeurs, Schils, Schoofs, Swers, Aalhoul, Lazaar, Banvo.

Sint Truiden (Second Half): Dutoit, Gerits, Dequevy, Erichot, Habarugira, Renson, Hendrickx, Dufer (Aoulad), Zennaro (Arce), Boiten, Boukabous.

The Bexley Bodger.