A look back at.....Tranmere

I cannot argue with you naysayers, that wasn't good. I'll try to stick up for the Addicks as much as possible, but sat here at my laptop, three hours and 40 minutes after the denouement of the match and with more than a few drops of amber nectar inside me, I'm struggling for positives.

Kyel Reid was a plus, I suppose. The ex-West Ham winger was pacy and direct - were you watching Lloyd Sam? - and could be the answer to our left-sided dilemma. It is just a shame many more problems have arisen.

Darren Randolph - more used to being inside a Saturday that playing one one - hardly oozed confidence after replacing the injury-stricken Rob Elliot between the sticks, and our defence, which usually has at least an ounce of resolution, appeared totally kamikaze when aiming to snuff out Tranmere's many attacks.

The amount of times our players wait for the ball to hit them on the head, rather than fight tooth and nail to smash it clear with their noggins, frightens me, a criticism I target mainly towards Grant Basey.

Nicky Weaver's golfing buddy is a talented man and he does have a gem of a left foot, but a full-back he ain't. I've always thought he was a poor man's Gareth Barry - alright, a destitute man's Gareth Barry - much better suited to a midfield role.

Our current crop in the centre of the park worked hard but they were often bypassed by long balls from 'keeper and defence, kicks that seemed to have been made my Moses, due to the regularity with which they parted our front two, the technically-sound Deon Burton and the scrawny David Mooney.

The on-loan Reading man impressed me during his earlier loan spell with the Addicks, so much so that I described his return to SE7 as - and I quote - "excellent", but the Irishman has been largely anonymous since his reintroduction, and surely it cannot be too long before Leon McKenzie is handed a start.

Eight points off Norwich with a game in hand is no crisis, just a worrying divide, and hopes of an automatic return to the Championship have not yet been obliterated. But as a feisty, long-locked bloke two rows in front of me bellows with alarming regularity, Parky needs to "sort it out."

Oh yeah, and for those of you on tenterhooks following my aubergine-inspired blog earlier this week, I added the purple delicacy to a pasta dish. It wasn't outstanding but it did a reasonable job, a food equivalent of Frazer Richardson.