Charlton 0-2 Bristol City

Suffice to say, that was not the evening I was hoping for. It hadn't started well for me as I had to bunk off work early to get to the game, much to the annoyance of my boss and then had a pretty horrible journey to the ground. Things were looking up when I got to the Valley though when I heard that Yassin Moutaouakil had made the starting line up, and was then served a pint by a very cheerful and happy barmaid (which you don't find too often at the ground).

Everything seemed to be alright on the pitch as well to start with. Pardew had gone for what seemed to be a 4-5-1, with Ambrose playing behind Gray, Varney on the left and Bouazza switching to the right. For the opening twenty or so minutes we were all over them, and I think the clock was at 38 seconds when Varney found himself with only Adriano Basso to beat yet somehow failing. After that Kelly Youga went close with a decent shot from range, Ambrose and Bouazza were both denied good efforts and Andy Gray hit the post. And then it started to go wrong …

If I am honest, I got distracted in the build up to their first goal for a reason I can't remember (perhaps trying to figure out if we had ever turned out two loanees as a central defensive pair, or whether this was the first occasion we had two dreadlocked players in the starting XI … questions for another time) but when I had refocused I saw Lee Trundle bearing down on goal. He found the net when we we couldn't in seven previous attempts. You could almost see the confidence drain out of the men in red instantly, as well as the crowd. I doubt very much the boos at half time helped very much to be honest and personally thought they were entirely unnecessary. That said, I felt the frustration as much as the next man.

By the time their second goal arrived in the 52nd minute, we could easily have been a couple more down had it not been for Nicky Weaver. When it did arrive, Gavin Williams was given far too much time and space (sound familiar?) to curl in his shot and there was frankly little that Weaver could have done about it. Lloyd Sam and Chris Dickson were thrown on and at least showed a bit of urgency, with Todorov coming on slightly later to much less effect. Varney headed wide a decent opportunity late on and that pretty much summed up the evening. There was probably half the crowd left at the end to hear the team booed off the pitch.

It's so frustrating to watch us play the way we did for the first twenty minutes and then self destruct so easily. Players were literally transformed. Youga started brightly but then went into careless idiot form, Bouazza went from attacking threat to a bit part contributor … I could go on. Our manner of play in the second half compared to Bristol City's was like night and day. Their players were moving for the ball, looking for the pass, trying to make something happen. Charlton looked static, uninspired and showed little signs of positive movement.

To make matters worse, Norwich and Barnsley both won which moves us down a place and now just two points off the bottom three. I am afraid the evidence suggests we have got worse since last season. Back then we accumulated thirteen points from games against Sheffield Wednesday and Bristol City at home, and Crystal Palace, Preston North End and Cardiff City away. This season … nothing. I haven't begun to address Pardew's part in another deeply disappointing display but I'll wait until I'm a bit less tired and have had heard his press conference comments. Suffice to say, in a world where the phrase 'must win game' is rather overused, Saturday's home tie against Burnley really is a must win game.