Happy New Year? Charlton 1, Colchester 2

It seems the New Year does bring some good tidings - the excess of the previous night kept me away from The Valley, a major blessing combined with the reports of today's performance.

Two goals from Kevin Lisbie (who else...) sank us in the first half, and by the sounds of it he could have walked off with the matchball. Perhaps he remembered where he was after the second and starting missing again.

Varney got one back just before half time, but continual reliance on woeful long ball tactics continues to be our undoing. I could bemoan the absence of Reid continually, but what's the point if none of the team are prepared to take the responsibility.

It also makes me question what Pards is actually up to at Sparrows Lane at the moment. We started the season with a promise of playing good football, but mixing it up with the long ball where necessary. Unfortunately, the mixture now has a consistency of 1-part 'attractive passsing' against 99-parts 'hoof at all costs'.

I'd had high hopes for the start of 2008, and looking at the predictions for the other teams around us I wasn't too far out. However, my optimism clearly hasn't spread to the pitch, as we find ourselves looking over our shoulders at an increasingly large chasing pack.

The truth is we're now in a real fight to keep a playoff spot - if the results go against us in our next match we could be as low as 9th and 1 point ahead of Cardiff. I seem to remember placing them in a relegation scare only 2 months ago, which is a sobering thought...