Friday 21 March 2014

Tough test tomorrow

The injunction to keep calm above reminded me of my uncle's cat Sandy of whom I still have a picture. During the war Sandy would ignore all invitations to go down the shelter when the alert was sounded, even if a tasty morsel was offered. However, the moment he heard the hum of Luftwaffe engines, which was well before any human heard them, he would immediately abandon his patrol and head into the shelter. The morale is only take shelter when it is imperative.

Burnley look destined for promotion this season, in second place ten points ahead of Derby. A win on Saturday would all but clinch promotion for them and they have the fewest number of defeats of any team in all four divisions. Their away record is impressive, having won eight, drawn seven and lost just three matches. Our recent record against them is not good, having one only match out of the last seven we played against them, a 1-0 win at Turf Moor last season. This season we lost the away fixture 3-0.

One ray of hope is that Burnley will be without leading scorer Danny Ings. Full back Kieran Trippier is also a doubt. Charlton have doubts over Astrit Ajdarevic, Reza Ghoochanneijhad and Callum Harriott. Jonathan Obika could start up front. Charlton have kept a clean sheet in last three games, but their real challenge is to score goals. They have the worst goals scored tally in the Football League.

Burnley offer an example of a well-run club that has been able to punch above its weight as I suggested in this piece written some years ago: Burnley

More recently, their one year stint in the Premiership helped with parachute payments.

Odds are Charlton 12/5; draw, 11/5; Burnley 6/5.

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