MK Dons 1 (Williams,21, pen) Charlton 1 (Kermorgant 74).

Unbeaten after nine league games on Tuesday evening, Charlton journeyed to defend their record in "some corner of a foreign field that is forever...Milton Keynes." That they returned still unvanquished was due to Ben Hamer's excellent goalkeeping and a wonderfully headed late equaliser from substitute Yann Kermorgant with defeat looming. On this occasion, their flesh weakened but their spirit saw them through.

This was, make no mistake about it, a fine result, particularly when MK Dons' blistering early superiority is entered into the equation. Charlton were all but sunk without trace by their hosts' bewildering passing and movement, the ball no more than an elusive hot potato to them for nearly half an hour. But they battled obstinately, stuck to their outmanned guns and emerged from the opening salvo just a goal in arrears. The Dons should have been out of sight but missed their chance. The Addicks swallowed hard, buckled down and turned the tide. They deserved their precious point.

It's an ersatz experience at stadiummk, beginning with its empty name and the false belief that the club are legitimate, biological successors to Wimbledon's old Crazy Gang from Plough Lane. The programme informs us that they have played Charlton on 19 previous occasions, which came as news to me, and by logical extension, won the Cup in 1987. Well, they aren't, they haven't and they didn't. The locals, meanwhile, have plagiarised that dopey dirge about nobody liking them, which comes closer to the truth.

To be fair, there was nothing phoney about the way the Dons tore into Charlton from the kick-off. The influential Luke Chadwick began an unceasing barrage by thumping a swerving 25-yarder slightly off target; Darren Potter drove narrowly too high; on the turn, Clinton Morrison, stung Hamer's hands; Stephen Gleeson sent Hamer scrambling awkwardly to reach his low effort; Morrison again spun sharply to test Hamer; Tom Flanagan shaved the bar with a clever snapshot as frustration began to set in.

The visitors seemed to have weathered the worst when they succumbed to a penalty conceded by the unlikeliest of offenders. Chris Solly has laid down an early marker as player of the year, virtually impossible to beat, as tricky winger Angel Balanta discovered when his jinking 40-yard dribble was summarily halted by the right back's no-nonsense tackle. But Solly's impetuous challenge from behind on Dean Lewington left referee East no option but to punish it with a penalty. Shaun Williams scored confidently from the spot.

As the Dons' intensity dropped, the priority for the shellshocked Addicks was to reach the interval without further damage. They managed it thanks to Hamer's fine saves fom Chadwick and more impressively from Williams, who half-volleyed Flanagan's perfectly flighted pass into the keeper's grateful hands.

Needless to say, the Buckinghamshire side were far from finished. Balanta opened the second half by heading Chadwick's centre off the top of the bar before the pendulum swung decisively. Paul Hayes' volley was deflected to safety before Bradley Wright-Phillips nodded an accurate centre from Scott Wagstaff inches the wrong side of a post. It was stirring end-to-end stuff now, with Williams skimming the angle of post and bar with a searing distance drive.

With his resurgent side firmly in the ascendancy, Chris Powell made two masterly substitutions to save the evening. Though still waiting to make an impact this season, Danny Green's class is unquestioned, his replacement of hard running Wagstaff on 66 minutes ideally timed. French newcomer Yann Kermorgant followed him five minutes later in relief of Hayes and the subs promptly combined to devastating effect. Green comprehensively skinned Lewington along the right touchline, left the full back in his wake, then whipped in an inspired cross on the run. Breaking to the near post to elude his marker, Kermorgant overpowered David Martin with an unstoppable header inside the right post. Charlton had received just reward for the sheer bloodyminded guts.

Chances were plentiful before the embattled sides settled mutually for a point apiece. The best of them featured Johnnie Jackson directing a terrific cross from Kermorgant wastefully over the bar, before Dons substitute Daniel Powell shot tamely at Hamer after Williams had set up what seemed a certain winner. Not that a winner was deserved by either of these talented teams. A draw was about right.

MK Dons (4-4-2): Martin, Potter, Beevers, Flanagan, Lewington, Chadwick, Gleeson, Chicksen, Williams, Morrison (Powell 66, Balanta (Bowditch 58). Not used: McLoughlin, Kouo-Doumbe, McNamee.

Charlton (4-4-2): Hamer, Solly, Taylor, Morrison, Wiggins, Wagstaff (Green 66), Hollands, Stephens, Jackson, Hyes (Kermorgant 71), Wright-Phillips (Hughes 87). Not used: Sullivan, Cort.

Referee: Roger East. Attendance: 8,114.

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Charlton 3 (Hayes 18, Jackson 28, Wright-Phillips 90) Chesterfield 1 (Whittaker 71,pen)

They rolled up in their thousands, Charlton supporters past, present and hopefully future, enticed by the club's handsome football-for-a-fiver offer and encouraged by the team's fine early season form. They arrived with hope leavened by a sensible measure of caution because, let's face it, they've been here before. An inborn suspicion of hype and hoopla is part of the Charlton fan's DNA. Throw in a spot of opera, not to mention knockdown admission prices and they hug chains of anticipated misery. The Addick is a rare mole-like breed, content to operate under the radar, out of the spotlight and touchingly resigned to 45-second telly coverage. It saves so much pain later.

As it turned out, for once, performance matched expectation. At least it did for 45 excellent minutes, during which Chesterfield were handed a chastening lesson and relieved to totter off at the interval just a manageable 2-0 down. It couldn't -and didn't- last. A two-goal lead terrifies Charlton more than it does their opponents.

The Spireites, bolstered by 1225 travelling Dalesmen who recognised a bargain when they saw one, kept their cards watchfully clapped to their chests during the pre-kickoff festivities. Clearly up to no good, they wore a "lean and hungry look" and you don't need reminding that "such men are dangerous." They meant business and intended to bury Charlton, not praise them. But until their rampant hosts froze, they were frankly outclassed.

Masters these days of the fast start, the Addicks almost succumbed themselves to an early goal but Lee Johnson spoiled a fine solo run by spooning his effort wide of the left post.

That was as good as it got for the visitors until Charlton inevitably cooled off. They had the sharp reactions of Greg Fleming to thank for alertly tipping Michael Morrison's hook shot over the bar and were lucky again as Johnnie Jackson glanced Dale Stephens' resultant corner narrowly wide.

A steady stream of corners maintained the opening pressure and it was from another of Stephens' wicked deliveries that Chesterfield eventually cracked. Fleming's plucky clearance of his inswinger at the outstanding Danny Hollands' feet reached Bradley Wright-Phillips, whose instantly returned low shot was nimbly turned over the line by Paul Hayes.

The same combination should have immediately doubled the lead but Hayes' disastrous first touch squandered an easy tap-in chance provided by Wright-Phillips' unselfishly squared pass. Hayes was more decisive with a venomous sideways-on volley diverted splendidly over the bar by Fleming.

It was all Charlton and came as no surprise that they claimed the important second goal their superiority promised. Impressively aggressive left back Rhoys Wiggins' cross from the left corner flag was handled by Drew Talbot; Stephens pulled back the free kick to the edge of the penalty area, from where Jackson drilled his fourth goal of the campaign past the helpless Fleming. Chris Powell chortled his pleasure at the success of a training ground wheeze.

Since Johnson's early enterprise, Chesterfield offered little until Craig Westcarr chipped over a cross which an unmarked Leon Clarke met at the far post. From two yards the recently prolific forward contrived to lift an awkward effort haplessly over the top. Though Scott Wagstaff drove Hayes' clever lay-off narrowly off target before the break, the Addicks retired in great shape.

One team disappeared down the tunnel, clearly a different one replaced them for the second period. Inexplicably nervous, shorn suddenly of confidence, Charlton allowed their outplayed victims back into a game which should already have been out of their reach. Chesterfield sensed it wasn't over, persisting in their neat passing without accomplishing much. But the Valley braced itself for trouble and it duly arrived with 20 minutes remaining.

Moments after Chris Solly had "sportingly" rolled the ball out of play to enable an opponent to receive prompt treatment for a supposed injury, the Spireites declined to respond in kind when Wagstaff collapsed in convincing agony.

Alex Mendy's pass enabled Clarke to roll inside Morrison, whose clumsily mistimed tackle felled the big striker. After a spirited discussion between Danny Whittaker and Clarke was resolved in the former's favour, the clear-cut penalty was hammered into the roof of the net to ensure the customary frantic finish in SE7.

The phony war of words, meanwhile, about Chesterfield's perceived lack of sportsmanship, can be dealt with succinctly. Allowing players to self-diagnose injury is a recipe for corrosive disagreement; cobblers in simpler terms. If music, not to mention football, is the thing, play on. Leave the laying on of hands to the medical profession...

In the mire yet again, the Addicks soldiered on unconvincingly. Hayes hit the bar, Wright-Phillips cleverly eluded two defenders but shot too close to Fleming, Matt Taylor was ludicrously booked for diving though clearly chopped down in the penalty area by Simon Ford. At the other end, more crucially, Mendy's left-footed volley whizzed inches wide before Wright-Phillips' all-purpose contribution was crowned by a richly deserved added time goal.

Big French striker Yann Kermorgant had replaced hardworking Hayes on 79 minutes and his silken first touch was followed by an adroit pass to pick out Wagstaff on the right flank. Thankfully restored to good health and possibly still irritated by Chesterfield's cavalier attitude to his suffering, the indefatigable winger produced a perfect waist-high cross which Wright-Phillips dived to convert at the far post. That notorious two-goal lead is a slippery bar of soap for Charlton to hold on to but they managed it with something of a flourish in the time left. Which was only two minutes, after all...

Charlton (4-4-2): Hamer, Solly, Morrison, Taylor, Wiggins, Wagstaff (Hughes 90),, Hollands, Stephens, Jackson, Hayes (Kermorgant 80), Wright-Phillips. Not used: Sullivan, Euell, Cort.

Referee: G. Scott. Attendance: 22,151.

Rochdale 2 (Grimes 57, Ball 60) Charlton 3 (Hollands 20, 80, Wiggins 45)

There's no disrespect - implied or otherwise - of Rochdale Football Club or Rochdale community in pinpointing a visit to Spotland as incentive enough for Charlton to haul themselves out of League One as soon as humanly possible. It's not where you want to find yourself on a rainlashed Saturday afternoon in mid-September. And obviously the locals agree. Most of them are conspicuous by their absence.

Nothing against homely little 'Dale - no, honestly - but at the turn of the century the Addicks were regularly visiting their glamorous neighbours in an area which virtually wrote the opening chapters in English football's history. These days it's Bury one week, Rochdale the next, with backbreaking treks to the likes of Hartlepool and Carlisle looming in the near future. Keep company like that for too long and you risk becoming institutionalised with them in the lower divisions.

And it's not as if Charlton effortlessly dismiss the lower orders with aristocratic hauteur. Both Rochdale and Hartlepool beat them last season, while Bury gave them all they could handle a few weeks ago. To be honest, they can be a nightmare so there was no reason to assume that the Addicks' unbeaten league record would survive a second visit to Spotland in 2011.

During a briefly chaotic spell after the interval, while Charlton surrendered a two-goal lead their effortless superiority had earned them, that seven-game record teetered on the edge of oblivion. Having outclassed their bewildered hosts during 45 minutes of pass-perfect football, they had three valuable points in the bag before inexplicably caving in.

But first things first. The Addicks were a delight to watch as they toyed with 'Dale for 45 minutes. Their passing was crisp, movement fluid, finishing clinical.
Twenty one-side minutes elapsed before the pressure eventually buckled the Lancastrians. They were surgically carved open down the left flank as attacking full back Rhoys Wiggins exchanged sharp passes with Johnnie Jackson. The skipper nipped past right back Stephen Darby to produce a sumptuous cross from the left byline. A restless bundle of energy, Danny Hollands did it justice with his downward header beating Jake Kean to claim his first goal for Charlton.

Wiggins promptly popped up at the other end to whisk Ashley Grimes' dangerous cross off David Ball's brow, while the tireless Jackson overhauled Jason Kennedy in the penalty area and was relieved that referee Steve Rushton agreed that the tackle was legitimate and booked Kennedy for diving. The home side was still in the hunt, however, until a stoppage time strike appeared to have applied an early coup-de-grace.

An unselfish team player as usual, Paul Hayes tricked his way along the left byline to drill over a low cross with the outside of his right foot. An awkward clearance broke to Wiggins, who fired a low drive into the bottom right corner. The foundation for a second-period rout had apparently been laid. Er, not quite.

Within a quarter hour of resumption, Charlton were themselves staring at defeat. They picked up confidently enough with Matt Taylor's header cleared off the line by Joe Widdowson, then Jackson's low drive skimming into the sidenet. But Rochdale served notice that they far from finished as Grimes scooped a half-chance into Ben Hamer's hands and Kennedy fired narrowly wide. They reduced their arrears when Grimes looped a clever header over Hamer from Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro's chipped centre and neatly under the bar.

Charlton's descent into panic was alarming. They were still all-at-sea as Ball resolved a bout of penalty box pinball by blasting a close range equaliser inside the left post.

Pulling themselves together, the stricked visitors struggled to regain their poise. Bradley Wright-Phillips shot was deflected wide, then Jackson's cross was sliced over his own bar by Pim Balkestein. The momentum had switched again and Scott Wagstaff, who had come in for robust treatment, broke on the right to reach Wright-Phillips' pass and force a corner off Widdowson. Jackson's deep inswinger was met beyond the far post by Hollands and headed firmly down into the opposite corner.

It scarcely needs mentioning that the last 10 minutes were spent in desperate, backs-to-the wall defence, culminating in substitute Jason Euell's clearance off the line. That's the Charlton way but the post-game arithmetic brought even more encouraging news that even Sheffield United's 3-0 victory over Colchester had failed to dislodge The Addicks from the top of League One. With identical records, the teams were separated, purely for convenience, by alphabetical order.

Don't you just love those kids down on East Street, who resisted any temptation to name their new football team Woolwich Athletic?  They knew what they were doing, those little 'erberts, bless 'em one and all.

Rochdale: (4-4-2): Kean 6, Darby 6, Holness 7, Balkestein 6, Widdowson 7, Tutte 6, Jones 7, Kennedy (Adams 76), Ball 7, Grimes 7, Akpa
 Akpro 7. Not used: Lucas, Barry-Murphy, Barnes-Homer, Trotman.

Charlton (4-4-2): Hamer 6, Solly 8, Morrison 7, Taylor 7, Wiggins 7, Wagstaff 7, Hollands 8, Stephens 7 (Hughes 86). Jackson 8, Hayes 7 (Euell 86), Wright-Phillips 7 (Cort 90). Not used: Sullivan, Pritichard.

Referee: Steve Rushton. Attendance: 2,909.  

Charlton 0 Preston North End 2 (Russell 11, Mayor 67)

Encouraged by a tiny train of doughty pilgrims from the Red Rose county, Preston North End helpfully cleared one of Charlton's cluttered decks by removing their second string from the Carling Cup last night. The visitors' reward, if reward is remotely the right word, is an even more daunting midweek shlep to Southampton for a third round tie next week. Home fans breathed a collective sigh of relief at that dismal prospect. "Better them than us" was the general attitude buzzing around The Valley. Unworthy, perhaps, but heartfelt.

Connected to a genuinely proper football club, it has to be said that North End's followers were a less toxic breed than their immediate predecessors from Exeter proved to be last Saturday. So disgruntled were two Devonians by Bradley Wright-Phillips' cheeky reaction to his opening goal that they were unceremoniously chucked out, one of them held symmetrically horizontal with a burly attendant at each corner. Bertie Wooster periodically left the Drones Club in identical fashion after a food fight went too far. The effect is irresistibly comical, totally undignified and punctures the self-esteem of the most neanderthal of football hooligans.

But we digress. Three days after his First X1 laboured in dismissing 10-man Exeter, Chris Powell completely rang the changes, as he had done when the Addicks impressively eliminated Championship opponents Reading in the first round last month. Mahogany-hued Preston boss Phil Brown, meanwhile, had himself more or less re-vamped the line-up which squeezed past Yeovil on Friday night. He was handsomely vindicated by the tape-to-tape superiority exerted by his reserves, who won more or less as they pleased.

Not that Charlton started badly, with Ruben Bover Izquierdo stinging the fingers of Andreas Arestidou from 25 yards. Preston's riposte was immediate; youth academy graduate Danny Mayor began 45 minutes of torture for Simon Francis by cutting inside the hapless right back to cross hard and low, a convenient ricochet leaving experienced Darel Russell the straightforward task of burying a low drive inside the left post. Francis' miserable evening promptly went from bad to worse, with a booking for chopping down Paul Parry, his half-time withdrawal by Chris Powell as much an act of compassion as the manager's tactical response to an already unpromising situation.

Not that Francis was exactly overshadowed by his colleagues, whose performance was as bad on this occasion as it had been good against Reading. Until Scott Wagstaff added his first team pedigree in the second period, they were aimless and gormless. Supposedly under threat from Danny Green for his first team place, Wagstaff added class to a losing cause. Green, on the other hand, seemed dragged down by the mediocrity around him, his solitary contribution a slaloming run which ended anti-climatically when he momentarily stepped on the ball before being crowded out.

Wagstaff was responsible for his side's few positive moments. A searing 25-yard drive was spectacularly tipped over the bar by Arestidou and a close range header from Jason Euell's stoppage time cross hit a post. John Sullivan was the busier keeper, though, an early save to keep out Russell's blockbuster the best of the game and his bravery at Adam Barton's feet earning him a painful injury. He could do nothing, however, to prevent Mayor from sealing the issue in the 67th minute.

Proving as elusive to replacement right back Yado Mambo as he had been to poor Francis, 20 year-old Mayor cut in again from the touchline to curl a fine drive beyond Sullivan's left hand on its way into the right corner. Preston's ticket to Southampton was duly booked, Charlton's lack of envy palpable.

There was prompt consolation for a small crowd and a pragmatic manager as news arrived of defeats for both Sheffield clubs and the failure of Brentford to beat Colchester at home. By default, the Addicks had moved to the top of League One and the Carling Cup paled into comparative insignificance. Brentford are due at The Valley in the JPT on October 5th. Don't expect a bloodcurdling cup tie from teams with more important items on their agenda. It could even be embarrassing.

Charlton (4-4-2): Sullivan 6, Francis 4 (booked), (Mambo 46,5), Doherty 5, Cort 5, Evina 6, Green 5 (Popo 76), Hughes 5, Pritchard 5, Bover Izquierdo 5 (booked), Benson 5 (Wagstaff 46,7), Euell 5. Not used: Hamer, Davisson, Warren, Smith.

Referee: F. Graham 7. Attendance: 5,130.

Charlton 2 (Wright-Phillips 43, Stephens 81) Exeter City 0

As Charlton's ragbag collection of "temps" and "casuals" lurched from one humiliation to another last season, Exeter City were among a number of supposed minnows who took full advantage of their disarray by beating them twice in the league. They joined other luminaries in Brentford (who added a JPT knockout for good measure) and Walsall in "doing the double" over Charlton's big-time Charlies.

City's 3-1 victory at The Valley was especially demoralising, being accomplished in front of a bumper crowd of over 24,000, lured by the club's attractive offer of £5 admission. Not for the first time, the Addicks choked under the spotlight, a failing which they hope to put right when the offer is repeated for Chesterfield's visit on September 24th.

At home to the Grecians again on Saturday, after a top-to-toe summer re-organisation, newlook Charlton began the process of exacting retribution from their opportunistic tormentors. They made a successful start to their quest for vengeance but not until a huge slice of luck loaded the dice firmly in their favour after just 10 minutes.

The visitors were holding their own during a few give-and-take opening exchanges when loan signing Rowan Vine adroitly made space for a left-footed snapshot which surprised Ben Hamer but was touched aside by the full-length keeper. Closing in at the far post, under crucial pressure from Rhoys Wiggins, much-travelled striker Danny Nardiello managed an unconvincingly scuffed effort which, to most naked eyes, appeared to have squirmed over the goalline before Hamer scrambled the ball clear. Not so, ruled referee Tierney, leaving the unfortunate striker beside himself with frustration.

Some 10 minutes later, Nardiello's simmering sense of injustice boiled over. With the action far afield, he seized the chance to give Mr. Tierney's assistant referee, a chap as crisp and decisive as Pontius Pilate, a piece of his mind. " You're a *******" waste of space, he announced, " and while we're at it, you're also a ****** **** of ********, not to mention a complete ******." In anyone's book, his outburst constituted foul and abusive language. Mr. Tierney agreed and ordered him off after the asterisks were filled in for him.

Nardiello's disgruntled colleagues were left to negotiate some 70 minutes with 10 men and, to their credit, made a fair fist of it. They were lucky to remain level when the outstanding Chris Solly's cannonball rocketed down from the underside of the bar and is generally believed to have crossed Lenny Pidgeley's goalline before it was hacked clear. For the officials to overlook one over-the-line incident may be regarded as misfortune: to completely miss another looked very much like carelessness.

Keeping their heads admirably while refusing the obvious temptation to flood City's penalty area with a barrage of high balls and over-ambitious long passes, the Addicks switched the ball around patiently without making much of their numerical advantage. A glorious through ball from Danny Hollands, which struck its flying recipient Scott Wagstaff unluckily on the heel, was the way forward but the first signs of frustration were beginning to show when, two minutes before the break, their steady pressure told on the beleaguered Grecians.

Picking up Mike Morrison's clearance inside the area, Bradley Wright-Phillips exchanged incisive passes with Paul Hayes, broke away between outmanouevred centre backs Troy Archibald-Henville and Richard Duffy and clinically beat the advancing Pidgeley with the outside of his right boot. His fifth goal of the season was dedicated to those Devonians unwisely taunting him for his Plymouth Argyle connections.

The second period, though confidently expected to be a stroll, developed into a grind as Charlton's chronic inability to finish off apparently stricken opponents returned to haunt them...almost. Wright-Phillips again combined cleverly with Hayes but the latter's concrete-heavy touch allowed Pidgeley to smother the close range effort.

Wright-Phillips was in irresistible form but twice shot narrowly wide. A second goal was sorely needed to soothe The Valley's jangled nerves because the gutsy visitors were far from finished. Then, with 10 minutes remaining, Charlton polished them off with a second well-worked strike. Almost as effective as a provider this season, Wright-Phillips chased down Scott Wagstaff's pass near the right byline before cutting back a low pass behind Wagstaff. Meeting the chance 15 yards out, Dale Stephens drilled the clincher into the bottom left corner, effectively dispelling memories of his glaring miss under similar circumstances against Sheffield Wednesday in midweek.

So revenge it was, a dish they say is best served cold. This time, it was sort of lukewarm but no less tasty.

Charlton (4-4-2): Hamer 6, Solly 9, Morrison 7, Taylor 7, Wiggins 6, Wagstaff 7, Hollands 8, Stephens 7 (Hughes 86), Jackson 7, Hayes 7 (Euell 78), Wright-Phillips 8 (Pritchard 86). Not used: Sullivan, Cort.

Exeter (5-3-2): Pidegely 6, Tully 6, Archibald-Henville 6, Coles 6 (Logan 6,46), Duffy 6, Jones 6 (Shephard 6,46), Dunne 7, Noble 7, Golbourne 6, Vine 6 (Keohane 6,52), Nardiello (sent off). Not used: Krysiak, Nichols.

Referee: P. Tierney. Attendance: 14, 290.