Uwe Rosler was less than impressed with Charlton’s ‘direct’ style on Monday. Strange comments from the German following his side’s dramatic late comeback to snatch a 3-3 draw with MK Dons on Saturday.

Dons manager, Karl Robinson, reckoned the Bees ‘out Wimbledoned’ the old Wimbledon to grab their point. Perhaps Rosler’s feathers were ruffled by his team surrendering their six match unbeaten streak.

Chris Powell naturally saw things differently and was understandably pleased with his team’s resilience. Ben Hamer played in the Brentford game after the club appealed against the red card he picked up on Saturday. The manager believes his keeper has a good case for having the decision reversed and had this to say:

“Obviously you want a quick decision but we do feel we have got some grounds, and that’s why we appealed.

“I don’t think they (the FA) will see it is frivolous, that’s for certain. If it’s upheld, then he gets one game and it’s unfortunate for him that it’s a big game and a big moment (the FA Cup match at Fulham) but I’ve said to Ben that if he misses out, throughout his career he will have big games, and hopefully they will be for us.

“It looks more than likely he will miss that game but we know that it’s a big month for us.

“The cup is not our priority. It’s a good day out for us and we will have a good contingent following us there.

“We want to do well and want to perform, and there’s no pressure on us, but after that we have the two Sheffield games.

“For me, they are more important but, as always, my next game is the most important – and that’s Fulham.”

Chris does not seem overly confident that the appeal will be successful, so why did he appeal? Good tactical reasons.

Despite what Powell said, it was always probable that Sullivan would be in goal at Fulham. The ex-Millwall keeper looked rusty when he came on at Orient, which will always be a problem when there is no regular reserve games. If Hamer’s card stands and the appeal is not deemed frivolous, he will be available for the Sheffield Wednesday game. If the ban is increased to two games, Sullivan will have the benefit of playing in front of a big crowd at Craven Cottage before the Hillsborough game.

By appealing, Hamer was available for the Brentford game, which Powell was desperate to win. The player who suffered most at Orient was Scott Wagstaff. Given a rare start because of Green’s suspension, Wagstaff’s return lasted just six minutes before he had to make way for Sullivan. He received praise from his manager for his attitude though:

“A decision had to be made, and whoever I took off would have understood that I wasn’t taking them off because I didn’t think they were doing well in the first five minutes, it was just the circumstances at the time.

“I spoke to him (Wagstaff) at half-time at Orient and he understood. It was unfortunate but it happens to teams and players and I’m sure it will happen again in the future.

“He’s fine. He trained and was involved against Brentford. It was just an unfortunate incident, and we move on now,” said Powell.

Though neither were involved against Brentford, Darel Russell and Hogan Ephraim’s loans expired on Tuesday. There has been speculation that Powell would like to extend the loans or even sign the duo on permananent deals. He continued:

“Their loans have ended, so now we’ve got a few days before we speak to their parent clubs and then see if they want them back or whether we can extend them.

“It’s up for discussion between myself and the respective managers,” before saying this about possible departures,

“Nothing’s happening at the moment, and it’s still quite early.

“I did have a few people in December asking what’s going to happen and I said we would speak after the Christmas and New Year period.

“I think that will be the case for most managers – they will wait to see if they get through this period and then it will be a question of who comes in and who goes out.”

Michael Slater has intimated that there will be some business done during the January window. It remains to be seen whether there are any developments with Russell and Ephraim prior to the Fulham match.