Charlton slip further into the mire

Charlton 1 Middlesbrough 3: Charlton's predicament at the wrong end of the Premiership deepened tonight as Middlesbrough came from behind to record their first away league win of the season at The Valley.

Despite taking the lead through Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who scored against his former club, Alan Pardew's men were undone by some poor defending and a touch of class from the visitors.

Lee Cattermole finished a well-worked move to draw Boro level on the stroke of half-time, before a terrible blunder by Hermann Hreidarsson gifted them the lead just after the hour, Julio Arca slotting home from 12 yards.

A stunning effort from Aiyegbeni Yakubu settled matters with 22 minutes remaining as Pardew was left to contemplate his first home defeat — and the mountain his men must climb to retain their top-flight status tonight looks much steeper.

Charlton took the lead on 27 minutes. A long ball upfield from Matt Holland was aimed towards Bent but came off the back of Emanuel Pogatetz's head and dropped into the right side of the penalty area.

Hasselbaink was on to it like a flash — driving an 18-yard shot into the ground and up over Schwarzer for only his fourth Charlton goal.

Boro then raised their own tempo, but were unable to make use of some positive build-up. Boro eventually levelled in the final minute of the first-half.

After play had been allowed to continue following what looked like a foul on Reid by Boateng, the ball was worked quickly to the left and then in to Viduka on the edge of the penalty area following a neat step-over from Yakubu.

The Australian expertly held up possession before slipping in Cattermole on the overlap down the right, who dispatched a cool finish into the far corner.

As the hour mark passed, a horrible mix-up in the Charlton defence after 64 minutes saw Boro take the lead. Stewart Downing whipped the ball in from the left, which, under pressure from Cattermole, Hreidarsson tried to chest back to his keeper.

However, the ball bounced off the Boro player, and straight out into the path of Arca, who promptly dispatched it low past Carson form 12 yards.

The atmosphere which had been building inside The Valley then, understandably, went flat. Any hopes of a revival were ended when Yakubu lashed in a superb effort on 68 minutes.

The Nigerian picked the ball up on the left, carried it forwards and cut inside full-back Talal El Karkouri before drilling a stunning strike into the top corner.

Holland forced a diving save from Schwarzer on 80 minutes, but Boro never looked like relinquishing their grip on the game and were worthy of victory.