And now...

...the end has come, and the final curtain has been pulled across the death throes of a season.

Black...gallows humour abounded at the Valley on Sunday, when the whole stadium stood and chanted "Stand up, if you're going down"...by this time Charlton were three goals to the good against Norwich, and Barnsley were drawing at Home Park, Plymouth. For Norwich to be safe they needed two things to happen, they needed Barnsley to lose to Plymouth and Norwich needed to play over their nerves, which they couldn't. How many times have we seen those nerves jangling, and exposed with the Charlton players this season...that must win game...those got to have points. Let's hope next season we give ourselves a good start and a base to build on, then we shouldn't see those nerves.

Where I sit/sat, I had some nice gentleman behind me already booing Hudson when the team was announced...it makes you wonder! Last game he was explaining to him how he should be going back to his last club...

Whatever happens during the close season, players out(eleven out of contract), players in...changes in the management or boardroom, it's going to make an interesting first game in August, but a more interesting few months between now and then.

Congratulations to Cambridge United for reaching the Conference play off final...they beat Stevenage after being down 2-0 in the away leg. They now meet Torquay United, who beat Histon in the second semi-final, which was a shame, it would've been great seeing two local rivals meeting in such a game. For those who don't know Cambridgeshire geography, Histon is a large village just north of Cambridge city, literally on the edge, with just the A14 between them.

In a low scoring game, Kent beat Middlesex on Sunday at Southgate, with Tredwell having bowling figures of 27-6 from 10 overs including 3 maidens, and then went on to beat Scotland yesterday, both Trophy games. Tomorrow sees the start of the Test Series against the West Indies...the first match is at Lord's, starting at 11:00am.

Here endeth the sports bulletin...please see the next episode for the rest of the news...