Unbeaten no more
Coming into this weekend both Charlton and Nottingham Forest had not tasted defeat. That was no long the case by 5:00 yesterday afternoon. Forest travelled to Cardiff in the lunchtime kick-off. A very uncharacteristic performance from Stuart Pearce’s side saw them lose the game in a five minute period of madness. After having an attack thwarted on the line, Forest saw themselves one down. The lead was doubled minutes later when Peter Whittingham drilled the ball home from range. Britt Assombalonga pegged one back late on after good work from Michail Antonio, but Forest had to travel back to the Midlands with no points and 5th in the table. The lacklustre performance left Pearce bemused about his teams desire.
That left just Charlton who travelled down to Bournemouth with hopes of keeping their run going. However, the Cherries came flying out of the traps flying, opening the scoring before the Addicks had even touched the ball in their opponents half. The fast start seemed to leave Charlton windswept and they never really found their rhythm. It took 23 minutes for them to test Artur Boruc and he was more than a match for Johann Berg Gudmundsson free kick. The scoreline in the end flattered Charlton as Bournemouth continued to dominate possession and the share of the chances. Bob Peeters was honest in his reflections admitting the better team won, but suggested that a lack of depth in his squad was a cause for the poor performance and with just 17 first team players he definitely has a point.