Bent Double

And that is how I celebrated Darren's first strike. Bent double over the seat in front of me staring at the Stadium of Light concrete a foot away after a shove in the back from an over enthusiastic supporter behind me. Not that I minded of course. I'm sure that many a time my flailing arms have caught an unsuspecting fan across the back of the head or that on occasions I have ended up hugging complete strangers. C'mon, we've all done it. And ain't it great, especially when you can experience it three times on one single afternoon. Magic !!

Our last visit to the Stadium of Light in February 2003 also ended in a 3-1 Charlton victory but there the similarity ends. On that occasion it was a scrappy affair won courtesy of three own goals. This time victory was achieved with a display of classy, fluent football capped by three excellant strikes. The fact that we went in at half-time with the scores level belies the quality of our first half performance in particular. With Smertin, Ambrose, Murphy and Bent all outstanding we should have had more, much more, to show for our first half dominance. Ambrose's deflected shot on the turn, Smertin's rasping drive against the bar, Bent's tame effort from Murphy's superb through ball and, especially, Murphy's wasteful header from Rommerdahl's deep cross were all chances spurned. However, the one chance converted was expertly done so by Darren Bent. A chipped ball over the top from Ambrose caught the Sunderland rearguard flat-footed and Bent onside. Racing onto the ball and towards the oncoming keeper he kept his cool, waited for support and when that wasn't forthcoming further kept his composure before slamming the ball past the now retreating goalkeeper.

However, Sunderland undeservedly dragged themselves back into the game before half-time. Clever wing play from Welsh, a summer signing from Liverpool, aided by Smertin committing himself to making an unneccessary challenge, led to a cross into the six yard box from which Andersen pulled off a fantastic save from Stead. Unfortunately the ball ran loose to Gray who rammed the ball into the net. Parity at half-time was scarcely believable.

Ten minutes into the second half and things seemingly became extremely tricky. Far from it. Darren Ambrose, who was enjoying a particularly fine debut, was deservedly red carded for an over the ball lunge at Wright. Although mistimed rather than malicious he nevertheless deserved to go. Thomas soon replaced the ineffective Rommerdahl, 4-5-1 became 4-4-1 and our numerical disadvantage hardly showed. A foul on Bent about twenty five yards out gave Danny Murphy the perfect opportunity to show his class. Everyone knew what was coming but there was absolutedly nothing anyone could have done about it. Rooted to the spot Kelvin Davis could only look on in amazement as the ball curled around the wall and into the top corner. If Murphy has scored a finer goal then I havn't seen it. What followed was a masterclass in defending where necessary, holding onto the ball when necessary and foraging forward when possible. The aforementioned Wright was booked for crudely hacking down Thomas after being completely bamboozled by some neat footwork and then lucky to stay on the pitch after repeating the offence. Suffice to say he was promptly substituted by his manager before the red mist descended completely.

Much huff and puff by Sunderland was finally extinquished by Bent whom, on racing onto a lofted clearance by Hughes, opted not to partake in the time old Charlton practice of taking the ball down to the corner flag to waste time instead deciding that another goal should cement his call-up to the England squad. An excellant strike across the despairing dive of Davis into the bottom corner ensured that this would indeed be the case.

So, it seems 4-5-1 can be an attacking formation. All you need is a decent striker who is prepared to do what he is actually paid to do and score goals. However, it would be unfair to suggest Benty won this game on is own. Totally unfair in fact. Andersen and the back four looked solid as did the midfield who held their shape and passed the ball with accuracy and fluency. Bent was a willing worker up top and took his goals superbly. The England call up was an unexpected bonus but as a seasoned performer at U-21 level he possibly deserves his chance. All in all an excellant performance marred only by the three game ban that Ambrose will have to now serve.

Shame that the other 10,000 didn't turn up to see it !!