Family fortunes
Saturday was a mixed day for Charlton's Sodje family, with defender Sam seeing red before his younger brother Akpo earned a 1-1 draw at Huish Park.
In atrocious conditions, the frontman came off the bench to net a second-half equaliser - just as strike partner Deon Burton had predicted.
Sodje and Burton led the frontline for Sheffield Wednesday as recently as October last year, and their fine understanding, coupled with the powerful breeze, caused havoc in the Glovers backline.
Sodje had already seen a goal chalked off for offside before he swivelled to rifle home the equaliser in the 56th minute, cancelling out John Obika's opener for Yeovil a minute before the break.
The on-loan Addicks forward also saw another effort tipped onto the post and a dipping drive turned over the bar by home keeper Alex McCarthy in an all-action display.
"It was a mixed day," said Akpo. "I'm just happy that we got a point for Sam as well. In the dressing room [at half-time], Deon said that because he's off, I'm going to come on and score, and it did happen."
The goal, a terrific strike which gave Glovers glovesman McCarthy absolutely no chance, was Akpo's first senior goal since the opening day of last season.
He netted twice in a 4-1 win for Sheffield Wednesday against Burnley, and was naturally delighted to get back on the scoresheet.
But that long wait could have been nine minutes shorter but for the intervention of the assistant referee's flag, a decision he questioned after the game.
"I'm quite happy with my first goal, I think that's my first goal for the season as well," he said. "It was good to get 45 minutes and hopefully I can keep on playing and keep on scoring goals like that.
"I think I'm just getting my luck back again in front of goal, and everything was falling for me, which is what I want. I'm glad I got a goal, but I'll have to look at the one that was disallowed on TV again to see if I was offside.
"I didn't think I was offside - I waited for the keeper to get the ball down before I went in, so I'll have a second look on the TV to see if I was offside or not. But I'm glad we got a point. It was a good point, we're still second and I'm happy that I scored."
After the sending off of the other Sodje a minute shy of the half hour for a professional foul on Ryan Mason, Charlton found themselves up against an extra man for the closing stages of the first half - not to mention the ferocious wind.
After Phil Parkinson sacrificed striker David Mooney for centre-back Miguel Llera, the visitors were just a minute away from going into the break all square, only for Tottenham Hotspur loanee John Obika to latch on to a clipped pass from Mason and slip the ball past Carl Ikeme.
The Valley boss made a second change at the break, replacing Therry Racon with the younger Sodje, and the striker responded in fine fashion.
"When you play in weather like that, you have to use the weather because the wind was against the keeper as well," he said. "I just had to shoot from everywhere, and hopefully the wind took the ball in. I got a good goal which I struck badly, and the wind took it - but I didn't even look at it, I just struck it and it went in.
"The weather was really bad, but sometimes when you want to gain promotion you have to get points in weather like that, and that's what we did."
It was Sodje's second outing for the club, following his late cameo against Milton Keynes Dons at The Valley a week earlier.
His loan spell keeps him in SE7 until December 5th, and the frontman is enjoying life back in the first-team spotlight.
He said: "I've settled in really well because the lads are great and I've got my brother and Deon, with whom I played at Wednesday for two years.
"I also know a couple of the lads from back in the days when I was playing non-League football. Everyone's made me welcome and I'm glad that the fans have made me welcome as well, so I'm enjoying my football.
"I've not played in this league for over three years now and hopefully I can just keep on scoring. That's what I'm here to do - score goals. I'm really excited I got a goal against Yeovil and I'll just go from there."
The striker's future after December is more unclear - but Sodje has not ruled out joining his brother in SE7 for longer.
"That's down to both clubs, and it's down to the manager, but I'm enjoying football and I'm enjoying playing again," he said.
"If it happens I'll be very, very happy, but if it doesn't happen then I'll just keep on playing for Sheffield Wednesday. My contract is up at the end of the season, so I need to play more games wherever I'm going to be.
"We're just all happy - the whole team, the manager and everyone - that we've got a point and we had a few more chances as well. It just tells you that we're not just a passing side, we can grind out results as well, and we're very unlucky that we didn't win. Hopefully it continues in the next game and we get a result."
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