Wycombe Wanderers 1 (Beavon 63 Charlton 2 (Wright-Phillips 6,41).

Treading the finest of lines again, Charlton completed the third leg of their Home Counties odyssey with a bitterly earned victory over dogged Wycombe Wanderers.

Before Tuesday’s vital win, the Addicks hadn’t fared too well in the leafy shires. A creditable 1-1 draw with MK Dons was followed by the disappointing surrender of their unbeaten league record at Stevenage. But with results elsewhere favouring them, they put daylight between themselves and their pursuers at the top of League One. All in all, it was a satisfactory, if harrowing, night’s work.

In the cold light of day, however, the perfectionist in Chris Powell will focus as much on the flaws in his side’s performance as on its undeniable merits. At half-time, Charlton were full value for their 2-0 lead after dominating their outplayed hosts and seemingly on course for a win as comprehensive as their effortless dismissal of Carlisle three days previously. During an increasingly torrid second half, however, their superiority began to fray to the point where the addition of four extra minutes arrived as an intolerable burden. They crawled over the line but that’s what champions do sometimes.

There were only six minutes on the clock when Bradley Wright-Phillips (who else?) fired the visitors in front. His part in the goal might have been negligible but his instinct for being in the right place at the right time is an art in itself. A superbly flighted pass from old pro Andy Hughes sent Rhoys Wiggins marauding clear of right back Danny Foster to cross on the run but slightly behind Yann Kermorgant. The Breton’s enterprising overhead effort hit the right post, before bouncing back to the predatory Wright-Phillips, whose finish past Nikki Bull was clinical.

Neat and constructive, meanwhile, Wycombe kept their nerve. A fine strike from Stuart Lewis skimmed the bar before Ben Strevens shot accurately but too close to Ben Hamer. The Chairboys were still in touch until Wright-Phillips’ second goal knocked the wind out of their sails.

Set up by a magnificently judged pass from Danny Hollands, Wright-Phillips stole a key yard off his outmanouevred marker Dave Winfield, stumbled under the impact of the centre back’s desperate challenge but recovered to drill a crisp low drive in off the left post. Ten goals in only fourteen starts this season is the return of a top notch marksman.

It was too easy to be true but reality bit after the break, The dominant visitors were served warning by tricky wide man Kadeem Harris. whose rising drive was nimbly turned over the bar by Hamer. Wanderers sniffed a switch in momentum, their growing confidence bolstered by Hamer’s sudden nervousness in handling a couple of high balls. Midway through the second period, they deservedly reduced their arrears.

In Stuart Beavon, Wycombe have an in-form forward of their own. Scorer of seven of his side’s fourteen league goals, he made it eight from fifiteen games by resolving an untidy goalmouth mess, during which Harris shot cannoned off Hamer’s chest, with a no-nonsense close range shot.

Their comfortable ride no more than a memory now, the Addicks lived on their nerves as Strevens cut in from the left to curl a fine crosshot wide of the far post. Matt Taylor’s miscued header which conceded an unnecessary corner was a sign that the times they were a-changin’ but when they were asked to dig in, Powell’s men answered the call. Centre backs Taylor and Michael Morrison headed ball after ball clear as the Chairboys adapted their ground-based tactics to include a steady barrage of high balls; full backs Wiggins and Chris Solly provided further evidence that their partnership is unsurpassed in the division. In front of them, Hollands superbly organised the first line of resistance, with the staunchness of Hughes at his elbow. Though Wanderers pressed relentlessly, they produced few chances.

When you’re top of the league, as Charlton’s marvellously vocal support reminded the locals they are, you find ways to win. And bloodymindedness has its place alongside elegance. There’s more than one way to skin a Wanderer.

Wycombe (4-5-1): Bull, Foster, Johnson, Winfield, Basey, Harris, Bloomfield (Ibe 87), Strevens (Ainsworth 82), Lewis, Grant (Bignall 65), Beavon. Not used: Tunnicliffe, McCoy.

Charlton (4-4-2): Hamer, Solly, Morrison, Taylor, Wiggins, Green, Hollands, Hughes, Jackson, Kermorgant, Wright-Phillips (Wagstaff 85). Not used: Sullivan, Hayes, Euell, Cort.

Referee: Andy D’Urso. Attendance: 5,406.

Charlton 4 (Kermorgant 13, 37, Wright-Phillips 21, Hollands 48) Carlisle United 0.

Kevin Nolan reports from The Valley.

It’s a long, weary road from London back to Carlisle after you’ve been outclassed 4-0. You’re entitled to wonder whether, in the nagging words of the World War II poster, “your journey was really necessary.” And it only adds to the misery to reflect that your performance included a player sent off, a penalty missed and a goalkeeping catastrophe of heroic proportions. So let’s be kind to the Cumbrians.

Just 12 miles short of Scotland, United plough a lonely furrow as the solitary league representative of their remote county. For evidence of just how lonely it is look no further than the bleak reality that their local derby passion is directed at…Workington. That’s hardly a clash to make emotional wrecks of their fans. In fact, it’s a clash that hardly ever happens.

The Blues have endured dramatic highs and soul-destroying lows recently. Relegated to the Conference following the 2003-04 season, they made an immediate return to the Football League in 2004-05 by way of a play-off victory at the Brittania Stadium. Having restored the natural order, they drove a coach-and-four through League Two in 2005-06 and are back where they belong again.

League One is not where Charlton consider THEY belong. Their pedigree comprises numerous seasons in the top echelon of English football, punctuated by years of waiting in the old Second Division, now all gussied up as The Championship. The Addicks don’t regard themselves as Third Division material, except, of course, that’s where they find themselves right now.

During a blistering first half, the new side assembled by almost as new manager Chris Powell served notice that they are deadly serious about tearing themselves clear of what frankly is a depressing division. Beaten for the first time last week by Stoneage Stevenage, they took out their irritation on poor old Carlisle. In little over a half hour, they chewed up and spat out their bewildered visitors, scored three excellent goals and, for once, spared another marvellous Valley crowd their usual ordeal of nerve-jangling worry on the way to victory.

With new dad Dale Stephens’ compassionate absence admirably covered by Andy Hughes and Chris Solly resuming at right back, Powell’s decision to continue with Yann Kermorgant up front was handsomely vindicated by the Frenchman’s bravura performance.

Scorer of two goals as what is popularly called an “impact sub”, Kermorgant had struggled to make an impression in a couple of starts. His difficulties were put behind him by two outstanding strikes, the first of them finishing off a fluent move launched by an artfully lobbed pass from Johnnie Jackson and continued by Rhoys Wiggins’ deliciously volleyed cross from the left. Kermorgant’s firm header did the rest.

Eight minutes later, fast improving goalkeeper Ben Hamer earned himself an assist with a deliberately arrowed clearance which panicked United right back James Tavernier into a hopelessly underpowered header back to stranded keeper Adam Collin. Greased lightning in such situations, Bradley Wright-Phillips accelerated smoothly, beat Collin to the ball and rolled it precisely home from an acute angle.

The North Easterners were all at sea and easy prey for the rampaging Wiggins, who left Tavernier in his wake as he marauded along the left byline before picking out Wright-Phillips with an astute cutback. Charlton’s razor sharp striker was twice foiled by desperate blocks from Peter Murphy but Kermorgant tidied up the mess with a rising drive off the underside of the bar.

United’s discomfiture intensified with the pre-interval dismissal of Matt Robson. Deservedly booked for a earlier foul on Danny Green, no doubt a consequence of Green’s effortless mastery of the left back, Robson’s trip on Wright-Phillips lacked malice but left erratic referee Sheldrake no wriggle room in applying the letter of the law. Carlisle’s wretched afternoon was degenerating fast but their humiliation was not quite over yet.

Shortly after resumption, Danny Hollands carried the ball over the halfway line, proceeded without challenge into shooting range and tried his luck from over 25 yards. His shot was firm enough but was no more than routine business for Collin to collect. A glaring sun was complicating life but could hardly be cited in his defence because Hollands’ optimistic slipped through his legs.

The only possible consolation for the stricken keeperwas that a fourth goal had by then become academic. The same comfort could be extended to James Berrett, who spurned the chance to reduce United’s arrears from the spot after Wiggins was harshly adjudged to have handled Tavernier’s cross. Hamer protected his clean sheet by brilliantly saving James Berrett’s firmly struck penalty. It’s best to miss penalties when they have little effect on the outcome, just as it’s easier to accept grotesque decisions such as the one later made by Mr. Sheldrake, who appeared oblivious to the obvious handling of Wiggins’ goalbound drive by Danny Livesey. You only get so many penalties per season. You don’t want to waste one with the score already 4-0.

A club without any apparent unpleasantness to them, Carlisle duly embarked on their punchdrunk journey to the far reaches of the northwest, with the prospect that, on St. Patrick’s Day, there awaits them an even more gruelling assignment at Bournemouth. Anyway, a club which boasts among their season ticket holders no less a luminary as Coronation Street’s Norris Cole (Malcolm Hebdon) has much to recommend it. Gratuitously- and with no justification other than a desire to share his riches – we offer in appreciation one of his better bon mots: “Yorkshire Moors? Fresh air? It didn’t do the Bronte sisters much good. They were all dead by the time they were 40!” Harsh, admittedly, but fair, which accurately describes the treatment received by the Cumbrians in the cheerfully polluted air of South London.

Charlton: Hamer, Solly, Morrison, Taylor, Wiggins, Green (Wagstaff 69), Hollands (Euell 72), Hughes, Jackson, Kermorgant, Wright-Phillips (Hayes 76). Not used: Sullivan, Cort.

Referee: Darren Sheldrake. Attendance: 16,741.

Stevenage 1 (Long 11) Charlton 0

Kevin Nolan reports from The Lamex Stadium…

Many of them attracted by the novelty of visiting a new league ground, (I’m no nerd but I’m up to 87 now, by the way) more than 1500 Charlton supporters helped Stevenage record their biggest crowd of the season so far for the first ever league meeting between the clubs. And no doubt they wish they hadn’t bothered.

For waiting to spoil their day was a team which attained Football League status as recently as 2009-10, then zipped into League One via last season’s Old Trafford play-off final victory over Torquay United. Like ’em or loathe ’em, you just have to respect their achievement. They certainly outwitted Charlton on this bracing early autumn afternoon.

The likes of Stevenage (they’ve dropped “Borough” from their official name, possibly because it made them sound like a council depot team) – and a division below them – unloved Crawley Town at least remind us of the uniquely egalitarian nature of English league football, a system in which all comers can try their luck. Even the financial snobs of the Premiership, with their morally dubious owners, had to put up with Blackpool last season and are still aching to rid themselves of Stoke. And don’t get them started on bloody Wigan. Let’s face it, Ted Turnabuck, that loquacious Liverpool managing director, might have been shouted down over his comments about TV rights but he was only saying what the others are thinking. The elitist aim is to peddle their “product” to Sebastian the stockbroker, not Sid the plumber one day soon. Then schoolkids will do projects about football fans as an extinct species. So hang on to your programmes and memorabilia for your grandchildren.

Back in sunny Hertfordshire, meanwhile, Charlton proved dismally inadequate in dealing with the problems set for them by the up-and-under methods cheerfully used by the locals. A steady bombardment of skyscraper deliveries had been anticipated and The Boro didn’t disappoint. They make no bones about their fundamentalism.

Some of their lusty wallops endangered low-flying air bird life but there’s nothing illegal about their tactics. Neanderthal, yes, but not illegal. And it’s up to their opponents to figure out a solution. Chris Powell had reacted to the aerial threat by benching excellent but diminutive right back Chris Solly in favour of towering centre back Leon Cort, with almost equally towering Michael Morrison moving over to cover Solly. Since Cort turned out to be Charlton’s best player, the experiment met with qualified success but Solly’s attacking instincts were missed. Better on reflection to make the opposition worry about your own strengths. Which might also be said to include Scott Wagstaff’s pace and industry in front of his mate Solly, at the expense of the subdued Danny Green.

The 11th minute goal which separated the sides and inflicted on the table-topping visitors their first league defeat of the season ironically owed nothing to the airborne battering but just as ironically was scored by Stacy Long, a kid who learned his trade as an Academy Addick before being released. Long chanced his arm from 25 yards, enjoying a massive deflection which wrongfooted Ben Hamer on its way into the top right corner. Beaten in similar circumstances last week, Hamer is entitled to believe he’s snakebitten.

Before the interval, Hamer got the better of Long in one-on-one confrontation after the sturdy midfielder broke clear on to Craig Reid’s perceptive through ball. Charlton’s best first half opportunity fell to aggressive left back Rhoys Wiggins, who combined with skipper Johnnie Jackson to elude Mark Roberts but shot scruffily wide with his weaker right foot.

Ten minutes after resumption, an even better chance was set up by Yann Kermorgant’s cleverly headed pass, which sent Bradley Wright-Phillips accelerating away from Jon Ashton in the inside left channel. Drawing a bead on the opposite corner, the top scorer beat the advancing Chris Day with a low drive but missed the right post by a whisker. On his right foot, you’d have backed him to hit the target, not that footballers are happy to admit they have a weaker side. But they do, don’t they? They’re only human.

The scare was all the persuasion Stevenage needed to add strategic timewasting to their Battle of Britain game plan. Left back Scott Laird, for instance, made tortuous treks to take right wing corners while Day’s mighty kicking became even longer and lustier. The Boro might, though, have doubled their lead had Ashton’s header not directed Ronnie Henry’s free kick against the bar. But Graham Westley’s doughty men had already done enough to deservedly secure the points.

Suckered into fighting blitz with blitz, Charlton were left to ruefully ponder their obvious shortcomings. It’s no a secret that sides will set out to bash them up legally and from time to time illegally. It’s an unforgiving division out of which to climb and a first defeat in 13 games is hardly cause for despair but it remains to be seen how they react to this setback. Powell’s thunderous brow at full-time probably means that the exchanges at next week’s training will be lively. A fly on the wall would be advised to wear ear muffs.

Stevenage: Day, Roberts, Ashton, Henry, Laird, Wilson, Long (Shroot 68), Mousinho, Bostwick, Reid (Beardsley 56), Harrison (Byrom 81). Not used: Julian, Edwards.

Referee: Michael Naylor. Attendance: 4,724.

Charlton 1 (Jackson 79, pen) Tranmere 1 (McGurk 33).

At the end of 90-plus mostly wearying minutes, Charlton emerged from this latest test of character with their unbeaten league record intact. A record of 12 games yielding 28 points, without their colours being lowered, is an understandable source of pride at the club. There was, frankly, little else worth remembering about these dour doings, the third successive 1-1 draw between the sides.

And it wasn’t all Tranmere’s fault. The Wirralsiders arrived with a rigid game plan, tweaked it a little as time wore on and came within 10 minutes of claiming a notable scalp. They opened brightly, with a brief flurry of attractive football, snatched a rather fortunate lead just past the half hour and promptly reverted to type. An irritating combination of spoiling, niggling and blatant time wasting was obviously their intention, should they somehow surprise themselves by scoring. The Addicks, meanwhile, showed little imagination in breaking down their dogged visitors, the first half passing them by while they pottered about fruitlessly.

With Enoch Showumni a mobile, surprisingly skilful target man, Rovers began confidently. Before the home side had settled down, Lucas Akins and Joss Labadie both fired narrowly over the bar. Showumni, who scored in both league games against Charlton last season, then muscled Michael Morrison off the ball before setting up Adam McGurk to test Ben Hamer. The big forward blotted his impressive copybook by shovelling Labadie’s inswinging corner tamely over the top but his side promptly moved into a not altogether unexpected lead a minute later.

Tranmere’s shoot-onsight policy finally reaped its reward as McGurk moved on to a convenient ricochet, blazed away hopefully and beat a wrongfooted Hamer with a wicked deflection off Chris Solly’s shoulder. Lucky, maybe, but justified by the run of play.

Like Mr. Hyde shouldering aside Dr. Jekyll to get about his evil business, Rovers changed dramatically. Suddenly goal kicks, throw-ins, corners, free kicks were given painstaking attention before being laboriously delivered, their Plan B obviously geared to cause impatience, frustration, even impotent fury. They did precisely the same at The Valley last season, after Showumni put them in front in the first half and Wright-Phillips equalised early in the second period.

They were, if anything, more devious this time but, to Charlton’s faint credit, again it didn’t entirely work. Except, of course, it did because comical Rovers boss Les Parry led his side back up the motorway chortling about the point they’d quarried from opponents they clearly fear.

Parry’s interval talk was no doubt succinct. Just keep on doing what you’re doing and we’ll have these soft-centred Southerners served up in a hotpot. In the opposite dressing room, Chris Powell might have made it more personal. Most of what he said probably does not belong on a website until the kids are safely in bed.

A second Rovers’ goal was, of course, unthinkable, but Ian Goodison should have provided them one. The craggy centre back topped a weak header into Hamer’s grateful hands, with an otherwise subdued Dale Stephens replying from long range with a potshot which Owen Fon Williams fumbled but recovered. As the exchanges intensified, much to Parry’s genial displeasure, Yann Kermorgant provided a chance which Danny Hollands sliced wide. Morrison’s key interception pipped Showumni to Labadie’s corner. An equaliser was beginning to seem unlikely until Rovers tried the patience of referee Drysdale once too often.

Escaping momentarily from Goodison’s shackles, Wright-Phillips a right-wing corner, which Johnnie Jackson’s educated left foot dropped dangerously into a congested penalty box. At which point your veteran reporter should be excused for failing to pinpoint who did what to whom. Various protagonists, both culprits and victims, featured in many a post-game press room frame but substitute Zoumana Bakayogo featured heavily for hauling down Wright-Phillips. And they’ll have to do. Not that the drama was resolved at any time soon.

Instead the villainous Northerners did everything in their black powers to divert Jackson from exacting the appropriate punishment for Bakayogo’s offence. They griped, delayed, griped some more, behaved like cads and bounders in their efforts to put him off. To no avail. Charlton’s cool captain rose above their machinations and drove the spotkick into the bottom right corner. If the football match during World War 1’s famous Christmas truce had been decided by penalties, you’d have appreciated Jackson stepping up to take the decider.

Both sides had chances to grab all three points, none more clearcut than the awkward volley scuffed over the bar by Jackson or the point blank swing-and-miss by Wright-Phillips when any kind of contact might have turned the trick. New setpiece expert Kermorgant closed out the action with a free kick which shaved the bar but honours, such as they were, remained even.

And so to the round-up interviews, where Parry had the press corps in stitches with a stand-up – well, sit-down, actually – routine of self-deprecating humour. The whiff of deja-vu was inescapable. He made us laugh last season. He made us laugh again on Saturday. Pity there’s nothing remotely amusing about the teams he saddles us with in between the mirth.

Charlton: Hamer, Solly, Morrison, Taylor, Wiggins, Green (Wagstaff 68), Hollands, Stephens, Jackson, Kermorgant, Wright-Phillips. Not used: Sullivan, Evina, Hayes, Doherty. Booked: Solly.

Referee: D. Drysdale. Attendance: 15,038.

Charlton 0 Brentford 3 (Adams 2, O’Connor 24, pen, Diagouraga 61).

Kevin Nolan reports from The Valley.

His hands tied by the tournament sponsor’s cute caveat concerning team selection, Chris Powell was reduced to chewing his fingernails on Wednesday evening while half of his first team were in action against Brentford in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy. It was no consolation to know that Uwe Rosler, the Bee’s manager, was in the same boat.

It’s safe to say that Powell’s first destination after this halfhearted performance was the injury treatment room. A trip to Wembley is all very well but in his own words “it’s all about the league” for him. The mere avoidance of inconvenient injuries would have been, from his point of view, a satisfactory result. Likewise Rosler, no doubt, but last season’s finalists Brentford were patently more committed. The West Londoners won comfortably and well within themselves.

For promotion-hungry Charlton, early defeat in this unloved competition cleared another deck on the choppy voyage to the Championship. And they set about eliminating themselves with almost indecent haste. In only the second minute, a weak header from ponderous Gary Doherty dropped limply at the feet of Myles Weston, who surged forward to find Adam Thompson unmarked inside the penalty area. John Sullivan reacted smartly to block Thompson’s point blank shot but was unlucky that the loose ball squirted to Blair Adams, who had no trouble in scoring.

It was becoming obvious that the West Londoners were taking things rather more seriously than their scatterbrained hosts and it was no surprise when they doubled their lead halfway through the first period. Clearly struggling to adjust to the game’s hardly burning pace, Mikel Alonso was enduring a private nightmare, which reached its low point as the debutant’s attempt to correct a poor touch led to his haplessly timed challenge on Toumani Diagouraga near the penalty spot. The clearcut spotkick was calmly converted by skipper Kevin O’Connor and the Bees were already out of sight. It needs pointing out, in the interest of fairness, that Alonso improved steadily and showed that he can play a bit.

In central defence for Brentford, meanwhile, was Miguel Llera, an ex-Addick with a point to prove. His anxiety to make that point was betrayed by the flagrant trip on Danny Green, which earned the big Spaniard a booking and Charlton a free kick in a promising position. Green’s low strike penetrated the wall but was routine for Simon Moore to beat aside. But at least Charlton had managed a shot on target.

Rosler’s men reasserted their superiority and should have gone further ahead but the lively Weston, another former Addick with some sort of grudge, headed O’Connor’s precise cross straight at Sullivan. Diagouraga sloppily finished a first half, to which he had made a positive contribution in surprisingly shabby fashion, first by gifting Paul Hayes a chance which the forward volleyed narrowly over the bar, then picking up a yellow card for a vindictive foul on Green.

Even the keenly anticipated entry of substitute Yann Kermorgant, as a 63rd minute replacement for Johnnie Jackson failed to turn the tide. Showing his usual neat touches, the big Frenchman produced one inspired moment with a long distance chip inches too high. Scott Wagstaff also stung Moore’s fingers from 25 yards but, by that time, Brentford had already settled the issue with a third goal. There was initlal doubt that Diagouraga’s fierce drive would count, with a linesman’s flag appearing to rule it out but wiser counsel, in the form of referee Linington, ensured that justice was done. Not that it seemed to matter much.

With a clean bill of health and Tranmere due at The Valley on Saturday, Powell will surely regard his team’s early exit from this millstone of a competition as a blessing in disguise. Promotion to the Championship is the be-all and end-all of this crucial season. To Brentford went the spoils, such as they were. Powell settled for a huge sigh of relief.

Charlton: Sullivan, Hughes, Doherty, Taylor (Morrison 46), Evina, Green, Stephens (Euell 46), Alonso, Jackson (Kermorgant 63), Hayes, Wagstaff. Not used: Hamer, Francis.

Referee: J.Linington. Attendance: 3,486.

Sheffield United 0 Charlton 2 (Kermorgant 65, Wright-Phillips 67)

Kevin Nolan reports from Bramall Lane…

Bouncing straight from their searching midweek test at wet-behind-the-ears MK Dons to what promised to be an even sterner examination of their promotion credentials at venerable Bramall Lane (1889), Charlton sampled both ends of football’s historical spectrum last week. It’s tempting to dismiss the Dons as no more than cocky young upstarts but even their worst enemies would concede that the quality of their football last Tuesday was hugely impressive.

Sheffield United, on the other hand, have seen it all before in their long, sometimes successful past. They’ve been yo-yoing between the lower divisions recently after controversially losing their Premiership status, along with Charlton, in 2006. Both clubs have found the going tough in League One; each of them has earmarked the current season as the launch of a serious push to revisit past glories.

More streetwise than MK Dons, United were expected to confront Charlton with their toughest assignment so far. That’s not how it turned out. Instead the Blades were turned over on their own hallowed turf by visitors who outclassed them in every department. From tape to tape, bell to bell, the table-topping Addicks were too good for them. Producing their best performance of the season, the two-goal winning margin hardly flattered them.

United’s resistance was effectively broken in a first half that, ironically enough, they could claim to have shaded. They came closer to scoring but encountered sturdy, pragmatic defence, which featured several clearances off the line. These anything but soft Southerners were prepared to put their bodies on the line for the general good of their team. They removed any doubt that their position on top of League One is merited.

Courageous captain Johnnie Jackson was the first goalline hero. The skipper was fortuitously placed to scrape Neill Collins’ scuffed effort to safety, after Chris Porter made a hash of heading Lee Williamson’s corner goalward. His defiance was matched by Rhoys Wiggins in hacking away a deliberate header header from Steohen Quinn, following a momentary lapse by Ben Hamer.

Charlton’s best chance, meanwhile, fell unfortunately to rugged centre back Michael Morrison. Set up by Wiggins’ approach pass and Ben Hayes’ skilful overhead pass, Morrison sliced his shot horribly wide. Sensibly resuming his outstanding partnership with Matt Taylor, Morrison was in impassable mood. And flanking the no-nonsense central defenders are the division’s best full back pairing of Chris Solly and Wiggins. It’s a back four of purpose and resilience.

Their first half softening process completed, the Addicks moved in for the kill. The natives were already becoming restless at their team’s curious reluctance to battle for scraps when Bradley Wright-Phillips rubbed in the difference in commitment by hustling a left wing corner off Matt Lowton.

Before Dale Stephens took the flagkick, however, Chris Powell rushed French substitute Yann Kermorgant into the action in replacement of Hayes. The move smacked of managerial genius when Kermorgant, with his first touch, headed Stephens’ inswinger unstoppably past Veteran keeper Steve Simonsen.

The stuffing was knocked out of United. They were defending like the Keystone Kops a minute later, as Wright-Phillips danced between their disintegrating ranks, drew a bead on the left corner but missed his target by inches.

Wright-Phillips’ disappointment was ephemeral. One more minute later, he seized on a dreadful mistake by Collins, showed too much of the ball to the onrushing Simonsen but charged through the keeper’s panicky clearance. The task of walking his seventh goal of the campaign into a vacant net was a walk in Bramall Lane for the prolific scorer.

Traditionally rocky with a two-goal lead, Charlton coped admirably. It did take a sensational save by Hamer, his best since he joined the club, to protect the advantage but the newcomer has been improving steadily. He won’t produce better than the magnificent reaction he produced to reach the text book header directed across him by Richard Cresswell from Lecsinel Jean-Francis’ deep cross. Cresswell was already celebrating the reduction of United’s arrears before Hamer’s athleticism confounded him. The keeper also contributed an alert block when one-on-one with Ched Evans but was a mere onlooker as Evans hit a post in added time. Otherwise a piece of cake, really.

Sheffield United (4-4-2): Simonsen, Lowton, McDonald, Doyle, Jean-Francois, Williamson (Flymm 73), Collins, Maguire, Porter (Cresswell 67), Quinn, Evans. Not used: Montgomery, Long, Parrino.

Referee: S. Mathieson. Attendance: 20,743.

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.