Another game, another draw. You can separate the games Charlton have drawn this season into “good point, well-earned” and “two points dropped” categories, and this one was certainly the former.

I base that on the pressure we stood up to in the second half at The City Ground, where Stuart ‘Psycho’ Pearce sent his Forest side out a completely different prospect after half-time. 

The Addicks dominated the game in the first period, taking the lead through Callum Harriott, who got the goal that his improved performances over the last week completely deserved. 

Forest were really struggling and their crowd was getting on their collective back. The home side looked an absolute bag of nerves: sloppy passes, mistakes gifting Charlton possession in the Forest half… for a while I thought I’d travelled back in time to last season and was watching us struggling to find a red shirt with five-yard passes.

We so very nearly picked them off with a second goal, after Harriott played Francis Coquelin in down the right hand side to cross and give Igor Vetokele a goal seemingly on a plate, but for a excellent save from Darlow. The rebound fell to Lawrie Wilson on his left foot, which sadly appears useful only for modelling shoes, and he fluffed it.

The second half started with the home side flashing a couple of dangerous crosses across the face the goal, which lifted the crowd.

It was amazing how much the noise of 22,000 can affect the feeling of a game. Any spell of possession for Forest, coupled with the decibel level being lifted, made it feel like we were under all sorts of pressure, despite the fact Nicky Pope didn’t really actually have to make too many saves.

The equaliser, when it came for Robert Tesche, was an absolute belter. A 25-yard volley that Pope did well to even be in the same postcode as, let alone get a hand to.

We held on for the point, despite having probably the best chance to nick all three after Harriott missed a one-on-one with the goalkeeper. 

A sour note was that Johnnie Jackson was withdrawn with a calf injury early on and looks to be out for a few weeks. Although luckily for me, as that may have saved me a rollicking from the skipper in the post-match interviews as he found out I had made a joke about his legendary pace on Twitter on my way up to Nottingham.

You can’t argue that Jackson is an influential player for us, helping to run the show in the middle of the park and pitching in with goals here and there too. It’s going to be interesting to see how we cope without him for the next few games.

After Monday’s FA Cup Third Round draw, the next few games include at least two with Blackburn Rovers. If being forced to travel to sunny Lancashire the weekend before Christmas wasn’t enough, we now get to host our illustrious Championship colleagues at The Valley for the first game of 2015.

The anticipation of pulling out a glamorous opponent, or a Non-League side who will relish the chance to take on a huge club like Charlton, always builds before the Cup draw. Before the dream is ruined like a kid finding out Santa isn’t real.

A home tie against another Championship side is akin to being told you have to stay behind after class for ‘Educational extra curricular activities’. You know you’ll be there, but you also know its going to feel more like a chore and all your mates will think you’re sad for doing so. 

Before all the excitement of a double header with Rovers, we face rock-bottom Blackpool on Saturday. Lee Clark,  returning to The Valley where he took a deserved point with his former side Birmingham early in the season, will be looking be pick up another result.

We can’t get complacent against the Tangerines. In fact, they beat the Blues over the weekend. Typical, they’ve just hit form as they come to play us! Let’s end their winning streak on Saturday.

Come on, you reds!

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