Forest add to Charlton's away-day blues

FA Cup/ Nottingham Forest 2 Charlton Athletic 0: Would anyone else like a go? After all, when it comes to producing away wins, Alan Pardew appears to be no more successful than the three other managers who have led Charlton through what is now more than 12 months without a success on their travels.

The anniversary passed yesterday, a year since Alan Curbishley masterminded a victory at Sheffield Wednesday in this competition.

Their last away win in the Premiership came almost three months earlier in October 2005, when a 2-1 victory over Portsmouth put them second in the league. It was their fifth away game of last season and they had won them all - five draws are their only return from 25 since.

On Saturday they were a team without class, confidence or, frequently, a clue. They were also without Hermann Hreidarsson and Darren Bent, an excuse to which Pardew returned incessantly. But the assessment of Grant Holt, scorer of Nottingham Forest's second goal, was closest to the truth: "They don't have poor players, it's just the players they've got aren't aware of how good they are."

This, surely, is the manager's role but Pardew's players were quick to accept responsibility for Charlton's latest disappointment. "Alan Pardew coming in has been a breath of fresh air," said Thomas Myhre. "He knows how he wants to play and the directions given to the players were clear - even though it may not have looked like it on the pitch."

After Nathan Tyson threatened down Charlton's right flank Pardew moved to reinforce that area with a tactical substitution and Charlton promptly conceded twice in the next four minutes from attacks down their left.

James Perch set up the first for Junior Agogo after running 60 yards, not especially quickly, without being inconvenienced by a challenge. When Holt headed the second from close range three minutes later the only people near him were a pair of glory-hunting team-mates.

In between, a hopeful punt forward released Tyson and the winger's cross was deflected by Jonathan Fortune on to his own bar and over the line, though the referee's assistant was not convinced. Pardew, who managed Tyson at Reading, explained why his team were so unprepared to deal with his threat: "He's improved since I had him."

Charlton created nothing, with Dennis Rommedahl unerringly inaccurate with his crossing and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink barely interested in contributing at all.

"I was surprised how much time they gave us on the ball," said Holt. "They never really seemed to pressure us . . . We're used to playing teams that are a lot more physical than Charlton."

Forest, beaten 5-0 by Oldham in their previous game, were excellent, despite injuries and suspensions of their own. Eager to win possession and loath to surrender it, they appeared more tactically assured than their opponents despite using an unfamiliar 4-4-2 formation for the first time this season. As several of their players pointed out, this may be a league fixture next season.

In Charlton's search for positives they can grasp at the fact that Darren Bent's rapid recovery from a knee injury makes it less likely that he will be sold. "He's going to return in the next three or four weeks and not the next seven or eight," said Pardew. "So it looks like Darren will be here for the remainder of the year."

If their away record proves equally hard to shift, then relegation, surely, is assured.

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