It seems unlikely that we will see the coronation of a new manager at Charlton before Ben Garner's former club Bristol Rovers rock up in town the weekend before Christmas.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Ben Garner and Bristol Rovers FC were expecting a pre-Christmas reunion in SE7 this Saturday. But, just like England's World Cup dream, that never materialised. Ben Garner got dismissed before he had the chance to face the club that gave him his first start in management.

And now, as we prepare to face The Gas, there are many Charlton fans who might see this whole pre-Christmas sacking as another instance of gaslighting from the bigger issues that the club is currently facing. Right now, we are sitting 18th in the league table and starting to look nervously over our shoulders at the small grouping of clubs starting to rise up behind us. Without a win in our past five games, we are starting to slide dangerously close to the relegation zone while Bristol Rovers, by contrast, have won two and drawn two out of the same number, lifting them up to twelfth position.

We are still just seven points from the play-off positions but that is a big gap in this tightly packed division and we cannot afford any more slip ups on this icy weekend. At least the freeze that denied us a match at Morecambe will have started to thaw. Bristol Rovers will certainly think that this is a good time to play us, with caretaker manager Anthony Hayes remaining in the hot seat, probably for "weeks rather than days."

Last time out we beat the bluer side of Bristol 3-2 in a season when they got relegated before making an automatic return in slightly controversial fashion just a year later.  With Joey Barton as their manager they certainly have someone at the helm who is proven in the game as a player and has been reasonably successful in management at this level. They have put together a decent squad too with some impressive signings in recent times. These include John Marquis, ex-Millwall man with whom we have often been linked in the past. Irish international Glenn Whelan is there too as well as Middlesbrough loanee Josh Coburn. They've certainly got more than enough in the tank to cause us a few problems but hopefully we too can get back to form with the new manager bounce that didn't happen in the cup tie against Stockport.

If we lose this one, we can say goodnight to any hopes of a post Christmas dash towards the play-offs but at this stage all but the most optimistic of fans have probably given up on that possibility. Three points would be a nice bonus though and a great warm up for next Wednesday night's #BackforBrighton cup game.

We do have form against The Gas after all in times of caretaker managers and ownership struggles.

*** Please don't forget that CAST will be hosting the Greenwich Foodbank van in the car park before the game. All contributions welcome ***