Nottingham Forest 0 - 0 Charlton Athletic

Phew! Well, at least that's stopped the rot. When you forget what it's like to see your team lose three in a row it's easy for all sorts of doom-laden thoughts to fill the mind. And whilst we're not out of the woods by any means, notching up our first clean sheet since opening day is at least cause to celebrate after what can only be described as a torrid time for our rear guard. Not that there were the same numbers here to see it today - attendance down by a couple of thousand compared to last week, and credit crunch aside, a string of defeats like that we've just had can still easily turn the occasional fan into a member of the stay-at-home brigade.

Is it just me, or are there already signs of us raising our game to sides who have a recent Premiership pedigree? Reading, Watford, and now Charlton - we've achieved more than respectable results against each of them, whilst against those who've been at this level a good while longer (and, yes I'm aware of Wolves' one season in The Promised Land, but that was brief compared with the other three) we've not turned in quite the same level of performance.

Reasons to be cheerful included the much-awaited return of Jules, and with Wilson and Big Wes our back line looked more assured. Luke Chambers was no doubt anxious to make the most of his chance once more at right back, and for a while he did at least tackle well and supply the channels down the right. This was not to last however, and by half time he had that look of being well and truly found out.

Otherwise, we probably had the best of the chances early on. It took a good save from Nicky Weaver (who must be playing for his hundredth club by now) to deny Earnshaw at close range, having been set up by Moussi, (who was better today apart from one or two sloppy passes), and Lee Martin was also dangerous going forward. Best of all was Cohen making a nuisance of himself, covering plenty of the pitch one moment, testing the Addicks' defence and 'keeper the next, especially with one particular long-range effort.

All well and good so far, but it couldn't last. Play, which had been relatively free-flowing up until midway through the opening period became disjointed as Mr Evans decided he wanted a slice of the action and began halting play and letting reckless challenges go unnoticed totally at random, and the game soon turned into a scrappy affair. The Addicks' Kelly Youga drew much abuse from the home fans for practically chopping Tyson in half, for which he warranted at the very least a yellow card. Shortly afterwards, when the run of play had shifted distinctly in Charlton's direction Wilson was lucky to escape with only a yellow card when he brought down Luke Varney when it looked as though he was last man - a decision which infuriated Addicks' boss Alan Pardew. Whether the ref considered (from where he stood at least) Wes to be covering is anyone's guess, but suffice to say we've been less fortunate in similar cases in the past. Slightly ironic in view of what happened later, but we'll come to that.

Fortunately we were not made to pay from the resultant free kick, although Smudge had to scramble for the ball having failed to make the cleanest of saves, but he made up for it shortly afterwards when Charlton returned to the attack, but we managed to hold out until half time. There was some abuse hurled at the ref from the stands even at this stage, although the sight of Alan Pardew having a few chioce words more or less said it for the rest of us.

Some changes for the second half, and Chambers, having been beaten repeatedly down the right made way for Matt Thornhill to come on for the restart, with James Perch moving to right back. The way Perch has shown his versatility so far this season is some display of the progress he has made when just a few months ago I confessed to feeling seriously doubtful as to whether he'd advance in stature, but that is exactly what he has done and he is maturing very well. Nice one, Perchy!

Even more impressive however, is Garath McCleary who continued where he left off at Preston on Tuesday, and wasted no time in setting up chances for Tyson who by now was running his socks off time and time again. There were crosses coming in left right and centre, but they all had one thing in common: no-one on the far post. Sounds familiar? Colin, sort it out now, for goodness sake.

Eventually Earnshaw tired and was taken off, replaced by Andrew Cole who didn't really make much impact, apart from narrowly missing a chance to head home courtesy of a Tyson cross. The best chance of all came when McCleary once again broke clear down the left before passing to Thornhill who sent a diagonal ball right across the goalmouth, and despite the rare occasion we actually had three players in the box at that time all running forward, none of them managed to connect, Tyson missing the ball by inches. It was a frustrating afternoon for Tyson, and not for want of trying, either. Just keep on trying Nath, you're gonna get one very soon by keeping this kind of pressure up!

So, frustrating for Tyson, but even more so for young Thornhill, who'd already been harshly booked by Mr Pernickety, so when he slid in for a tackle, certainly not malicious albeit a little late, Calderwood must have wondered if history was repeating itself since the last time Charlton played here in the league back in 2000, it was he (as a player for us) who saw red for something equally innocuous. Anyway, out came Mr Evans' second yellow followed by red, and a distraught Matt was off, consoled only by a standing ovation from the home fans who cheered him off whilst booing the ref in equal measures.

Compensation for failing to send Wilson off in the first half? Hardly, and no referee will ever save face through a delayed gesture like that, whatever the pressure. But that's now three lousy referees we've had in the handful of games we've played so far, and those who thought we'd see an improvement in officialdom this season after three years in the wilderness must be feeling pretty hacked off. And please, can someone tell me why he was wearing black when Nicky Weaver was wearing identical colours and his team mates were wearing black and white? Neutrality? The guy obviously doesn't know the meaning of the word.

Charlton, meanwhile, heartened by the one-man advantage pressed forward, and this was when Smudge produced an outstanding save to deny Andy Gray (on for Lloyd Sam) with only a couple of minutes left. Gray had already wheeled away and about to celebrate before he realised the ball had been palmed wide, but it was a heart-stopping moment nonetheless. Strange to see Gray in his role as striker, having enjoyed several productive seasons in that role since leaving us. Makes you wonder what might have happened had Platt or Harty played him up front, instead of him becoming one of several mediocre players whose career has prospered post-Forest.

Thankfully we held out, even with five minutes of time added on. To have conceded a late goal would have been a travesty today, despite Smudge's heroics (he also denied Ambrose as we entered stoppage time). Once again the man in black was subjected to a barrage of booing once the players had left the field at full time, not just for the sending-off, but for the way he did a more than passable impersonation of a traffic warden. Irritatingly picky, he ruined this game single-handedly and reduced it into a scrappy encounter more befitting a clash between a couple of pub teams.

Better get used to it, I suppose, although our priority remains to address the problems of our own. Injuries aside, some practice at receiving crosses must surely be a priority as we seem unable to put players on the far post. Launching the high balls doesn't help much, especially since neither Cole nor Earnshaw are cut out for meeting the ball in that way. On the plus side, we did look a lot more assured in defence today, although there is still room for improvement. The presence of Bennett made a difference today, even with him being swathed with all those bandages late on!

Lancashire Red coverage will resume for the Ipswich Town game in October. By which time this crucial ten games played will hopefully have provided results to give a more true indication of the way we are playing. It's still early days, but I'm still confident it will all fall into place in good time.

Ref Watch: K Evans - yet another display of random ineptitude, enough to annoy both sets of fans for differing reasons. Should he really feel surprised at the barrage of abuse awaiting him as he left the field?

Entertainment Value: A scrappy game in parts, not helped by the traffic warden tendencies of the man with the whistle. A couple of goalmouth dramas to prompt the odd 'Oooh's' later on, but this won't go down as the most memorable game I've attended this season. 5//10

Atmosphere: Despite the reduced attendance there was plenty of noise coming from the usual places, although the loudest noise was the booing directed at the ref.

Highlights: Hurrah for another clean sheet at last, athough it took Smudge's world-class save late in the game to keep us in it.

Lowlights: Once again failure to convert chances, which we just about had the better of today; Thornhill's dismissal yet again epitomised the low standard of officialdom in this division.

Stinker: Chambers started well, but faded badly; oh, and of course the ref.

Stormer: Chris Cohen once again was everywhere, playing with the determination necessary to cut it at this level - one or two of his colleagues would do well to remember that; Smudge deserves credit for the two late saves to earn us a point.