Since the 1st round draw - and the scheduling for TV - I have been thiinking about the similarities with - and the differences from - the 1st round in 1980.
Back then we were also top of the old 3rd div and therefore theoretically the toughest draw and were drawn away against non-league opposition in the shape of Harlow Town. Although Halifax clearly is much further there was no M25 in those days and Harlow was a treck in itself.
There were no live games in those days but we did feature on MoTD as one of the main games.
I suspect the biggest differece may be in the surroundings and that the stageing of the match might be a little more professional this time around. I seem to recall that no-one could find the keys to the ground and that it was left to some obliging away fans to lift the main gate off it's hinges so that we could actually get in.
I also seem to remember that the "away end" consisted of a grass bank and that there was a constant flow as people slowly slipped down from the top to the bottom before turning around to climb back up to the top.
The result was a rather uninteresting 2-0 win. Didn't Derek Hales score with a cross from way out on the left wing and then not even bother to claim it was intentional when interviewed by the MoTD cameras afterwards?
I also seem to recall a rare appearance for Johnny Østergaard - surely the only ice-hokey international ever to play for Charlton?
Comments
The only reason you remember that one specifically Hugo was that Harlow's ground was Hammarskjold Road.
I did have trouble standing uprighton that bank though.
Glad you haven't mentioned the 3rd round game in 1980 though :-(
That was January 1981. Plymouth played with the gale in the 1st half and it propmtly died about 5 minutes into the 2nd half - but it lasted just long enough for Paddy to float that corner in.
It's about this time in 1980 that we went on a long unbeaten run...13 games I think, only one of which was a draw (Fellows Park)
Didn't it all start with a Killer clinching a 1-1 draw against Huddersfield at Leeds Road?
They say history has a habit of repeating itself......
We played Wrexham again a couple of weeks later and lost again, Johnny Ostergaard scored a screamer that Addickted (one of the few Addicks insane enough to go there twice in a month) used to rave about.
Just to show what an idiot I was then I went to both games. You'd have thought after losing 6-0 I would've known better.
Sad but true.
What kit did we wear for that fixture, was it a yellow and blue adidas kit ???
mmm got a bit lively
That was the kit