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At around 3:30 with the Clarets two goals up I wondered just what I'd be writing. The first half hour was as good as anything I've seen from a Burnley side on its travels in a long time. We took the game to Charlton, got two early goals and could so easily have doubled that lead as one of last season's Premiership clubs simply had no answer to us.
That was at 3:30, now is now, and although the domination didn't continue we still came out with a two goal advantage, still took all three points, and there is no doubt whatsoever that we deserved all three of them after another memorable away day.
I wasn't able to attend our last league game there in 1994 and so this was my first league visit to the Valley since 1982, and it is a very different looking ground now than it was then although the away end hasn't changed at all.
I like it, it is very closed in and I suspect if they could get a crowd in there with a bit of enthusiasm then it could well generate some noise. Whether the home fans would have made much is hard to tell, we never really gave them much chance to rustle up any enthusiasm.
Owen Coyle named an unchanged team, with the same five substitutes. I know we are a bit short of players just now but he's hardly Rafa Benitez style with squad rotation. There was one new face and that was the new assistant manager Sandy Stewart (although I'm not too sure of his kit sporting the letters SS) and he was in the thick of the action even before kick off.
A young lad sat near the front was hit by a loose ball flying into the crowd from Robbie Blake's boot. Robbie checked to see if the lad was OK, but Sandy went one better. He came over to check with his family and presented the youngster with a football.
Soon after he was in the dug out and watched his new players seize the initiative right from the start. Charlton didn't seem to have much of an answer as we got at them down the left hand side and then the right and when they illegally stopped one attack down our left we took the lead in only the eighth minute.
Robbie was fouled just outside the box on the left. He took the free kick himself and it was met by Andy Gray who headed home via a deflection from Danny Mills who was to have an eventful afternoon.
Charlton tried to respond but Zheng Zhi, the China captain, gave the ball away and the Clarets were soon back on the attack and soon doubling the lead. Only five minutes after the first goal we won another free kick. Robbie took it again and this time Chris McCann was left totally unmarked in the box to head home into the corner.
Little was being seen of the Charlton attack but Burnley could so easily have added a couple more. Robbie was in the sort of form that has you believing we can score every time we get forward and he was so close to getting one for himself when he opted to shoot from a free kick and nearly caught out Nick Weaver, but the keeper recovered to keep out a low shot a the expense of a corner.
Then he nearly scored a goal of the season candidate. Kyle Lafferty got in a tremendous cross from the left. Robbie just brought it down in one touch, brilliant control of the ball, but then hit his shot over when he looked a certain scorer.
It was all superb stuff but then the tide turned. A cross from the right was deflected and dropped nicely for Andy Reid, Charlton's captain, and he made no mistake with a powerful shot.
The goal was hard to take, the goal was against the run of play but the home side were back in the game and we ended the half relieved to hear the whistle with our lead intact.
That goal, along with the last few minutes of the first half, inspired Charlton and after some words from Alan Pardew they came out for the second half and got themselves on top. For a while their pressure came to nothing. Darren Ambrose shot weakly and then Zheng Zhi, the China captain, made a real hash with a shot from the edge of the box.
When they did get through and get shots on target they found goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly in superb form. They'd booed him at the beginning of the game, presumably because he had played for Palace, but it came back to haunt them as he made three very good saves, one of which was exceptional as he parried a rocket of a shot from Reid that seemed to bend one way and then the next. And then he was quickly up to collect the ball after Chris Iwelumo had got to the rebound.
It was almost one way traffic towards our goal and we were just about hanging on to our one goal lead. It was a different game now but I'm not so sure there was much need for the blatant dive from Danny Mills after he'd got down the right wing. Incredibly he wasn't even carded for it, and shortly afterwards he must have been very relieved he wasn't.
Joey Gudjonsson came on for Alan Mahon and soon after that it looked as though they'd got the equaliser. Although nothing like Watford in style, Charlton's was bad enough as they aimed most balls at Iwelumo's head and he got to one of them to head home. Thankfully the linesman flagged for offside and we made them pay.
Wade Elliott got down the right wing and his cross was met by Mills. Quite why he chose to handle it I don't know but he did and the referee immediately pointed to the spot. Mills was booked but he was a lucky man to still be on the pitch. Who cares? He's not very good anyway.
Andy Gray is though, and he waited patiently for what seemed an age before he was allowed to take it. No mistake, 3-1 and just about game over. We just never let them get back into it, and controlled the rest of the game without anything even resembling a scare.
Two tough games, six points, what more can you ask? For good measure we've thrown in some very entertaining football, scored five goals, defended well and battled when we've needed to.
This second win for me is better than the first. Charlton are not a poor side, they've some quality players, and they had none better in this game than former Crewe striker Luke Varney. There's also the likes of Darren Ambrose, Chris Iwelumo, Andy Reid and not forgetting the China captain Zheng Zhi.
But we were better than them in this game and we'll have made a few teams sit up and take notice. Now we need to take this away form into our home games. That's five wins on the road this season and hopefully more to come.
I've had some real problems with man of the match. I toyed with the idea of giving it to Gabor Kiraly but that would have people believe we'd only won because of the goalkeeper's performance when nothing could be further from the truth.
There's Clarke Carlisle who just shut the usually dangerous Iwelumo out of the game, Chris McCann who had another top game in midfield. Then up front was the inspirational Robbie Blake along with Andy Gray. I've thought long and hard and decided on Gray, simply because his goals won us the match.
I've really enjoyed this week.
The teams were;
Charlton: Nicky Weaver, Danny Mills, Sam Sodje (Madjid Bougherra 78), Jonathan Fortune, Chris Powell, Darren Ambrose, Matt Holland, Zheng Zhi (Lloyd Sam 78), Andy Reid, Luke Varney (Izale McLeod 85), Chris Iwelumo. Subs not used: Darren Randolph, Jose Semedo.
Burnley: Gabor Kiraly, Graham Alexander, Clarke Carlisle, David Unsworth, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott (Steve Jones 90), Chris McCann, Alan Mahon (Joey Gudjonsson 64), Kyle Lafferty, Robbie Blake (Ade Akinbiyi 90), Andy Gray. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, James O'Connor.
Referee: Rob Shoebridge (Derbyshire).
Attendance: 21,122.