A crowd of 12,968, swelled by a decent number of travelling Bristolians saw Charlton get off to a winning start despite playing much of the game with only ten men following Novaks early sending off.
The atmosphere at The Valley was nothing like that which i rarely enjoyed last season. There was a real coming together throughout the stands, promoted no doubt by the recent silence from our Belgium owners and CEO and improved communications overall from the club staff on the ground.
The positive performance must also be commented on. Despite only having ten men this Charlton side continuously surged forward looking to add that second goal. Ricky Holmes did not disappoint, and showed why it was so important to our chances this season that we retained his services.
Kashi was awesome in the midfield general role, and again will prove to be a pivotal part of any success this squad achieve over the coming month's. Dasilva looked comfortable as both a defensive and attacking full back. All in all a great day at the office.
The only player not to come out looking at full marks was Tony Watt. He didn't look at all sharp and certainly not match fit.
The issue we have for the next couple of weeks, until Magennis returns, is who plays up front. I don't think either Watt or Ahearne Grant could play that holding up target man type of role that the former two mentioned can, pulling in Sharpe, Fosu and Holmes into attacking play. Perhaps Robinson will tweak tactics until Magennis is available again.
Happy with the direction things look to be taking so far.
Man of the Match: Ricky Holmes
Could do Better: Tony Watt
