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Inside view with Charlton defender Sam Sodje

Sam Sodje
Sam Sodje

It's difficult to know what to say after Sunday’s events.

There can’t be many football experiences worse than being dumped out of the FA Cup in the first round by a non-League club.

I know John Terry said recently he still felt terrible about missing a spot-kick for Chelsea in a penalty shoot-out in the Champions League final but it’s all relative and it was quiet in the away dressing room at Northwich Victoria after the final whistle.

The manager certainly wasn’t short of a few choice phrases, though, and he didn’t mince his words when he spoke to the press either.

There were no excuses, he made that clear and there was no argument from any of the players.

We all know it wasn’t good enough. Everyone knows any football team can beat any other on any given day but the manner of our defeat was just as bad as the loss itself.

We weren’t mentally strong enough when it mattered and it was a really bad loss for the club.

Every player likes to make history but to be a member of the side that became the first Charlton team to lose to non-League opposition is not something I’m proud of.

To make things even worse, the match was shown live on television and as the biggest ‘cupset’ of the round, was back-page news everywhere. Every phone call or text message I’ve received since then has mentioned the defeat and I know I’m not alone in that regard.

There is a burning desire among the squad to put things right as quickly as possible and make our fans proud of us again.

We put on no sort of show for those supporters who made the long trip to Cheshire, so hopefully we can continue our good start to the season in the league against Milton Keynes Dons on Saturday.

There was a possibility I might not be available this weekend due to international duty.

I haven’t been called up for Nigeria, though, so that leaves me free to concentrate on Charlton and MK Dons, and then I can worry about our World Cup qualification campaign from afar on Sunday.

It’s a must-win match for Nigeria against Kenya, although we also have to hope group leaders Tunisia drop points against Mozambique.

It’s all about Charlton first, though. Last weekend was a bad weekend; a win on Saturday won’t make anyone forget about that but it would be a step in the right direction.

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