Charlton Athletic midfielder Johnnie Jackson writes for the KM Group
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One word summed up Saturday for me – frustrating.
It was one of those days against an Oldham Athletic side that
stuck rigorously to their game plan.
It wasn’t anything surprising. We knew that they would come down
and make things difficult for us and they worked hard and I’m sure
they were happy to head back home with a point.
They were having their Christmas party in Southend later that
night, so I’m sure it was a good start to the evening for them.
There was added frustration for me because I had to watch all
the action unfold in front of me.
I’m more nervous watching on from the stands and although I was
delighted to see Darel Russell head his first goal for the club, we
couldn’t see out the win.
This is my third injury spell since first arriving at the club a
few years ago and it wasn’t great to come out when the team and I
were both doing well.
I got used to watching last year and it was tough seeing the
side struggle and not being able to do anything about it.
Thankfully, in my absence, the team have kept the scoreboard
ticking over but nobody wants to miss out on football.
You expect niggles here and there, though, so I’m just grateful
that this is not one like last season when I missed months rather
than weeks.
The injury is progressing well and this week I’ve been stepping
up my running as well as working hard in the gym.
Dale Stephens is also on the way back, so it’s been good to have
someone to work with.
I’m experienced enough now to know my body and having suffered a
similar hamstring injury before, I knew what had happened straight
away at Brentford in November.
It was a freak fall, really but I’ve been through it before and
I’ll know when I can crack on.
The players and I have been out and about over the past week or
so and we made our annual Christmas visit to Queen Elizabeth’s
Hospital, near The Valley.
It was, as ever, a humbling experience, and put things into
perspective for me, particularly as I have a young family.
Hopefully, we brought a smile to some sick kids.
We also attended the annual Young Addicks Christmas party last
Sunday and some of the lads really got into the spirit of it.
Matt Taylor even had his face painted as a tiger, while Andy
Hughes was Shrek, which was a fair effort.
Our reserve keeper John Sullivan let himself down on our fancy
dress players’ Christmas party in Liverpool the previous weekend,
though.
He just wore a black T-shirt and said he was a jockey. It was a
poor effort.
Wednesday, December 21 2011
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