Charlton 1-0 Wednesday

Wednesday fell to their first defeat in seven games at The Valley as Scott Wagstaff fired Charlton Athletic to three points in npower League One on Saturday.

The defeat, which comes on the back of back-to-back victories on the road for Alan Irvine and his men, sees Wednesday slide out of the play-off spots and puts pressure on Tuesday night's home clash against Huddersfield Town.

Irvine made three changes to the side that drew with Bournemouth last time out. Neil Mellor, Gary Teale all got the nod to start in place of Clinton Morrison, James O'Connor and the suspended Darren Purse respectively.

Jermaine Johnson also made a welcome return on the bench after missing last week's outing due to personal reasons.

Owls stopper Nicky Weaver, returning to face his former club, took the captain's armband in the absence of Purse.

The Addicks came into the clash in confident mood following their victory at Carlisle United last time out and looking to make amends from a 4-0 loss against Brigthon on home soil last time out.

And they made a bright start with Wednesday up against it in the opening exchanges.

Weaver was immediately involved and he had to be alert to deny Charlton defender Matt Fry, who sent a powerful strike goalwards following a corner kick but the Owls number one was equal to it.

Johnnie Jackson then tested Weaver as Wednesday were forced to defend in numbers in the first ten minutes to stay on level terms.

Wednesday gradually forced their way back into the game and Marcus Tudgay had the first attempt on goal when he got on the end of a testing ball from Tommy Miller before forcing Rob Elliot into a low save.

The hosts, who could leapfrog the Owls with three points, were on top for long spells of the first-half and their opener on 23 minutes came as no surprise to the majority of the 17,000-plus inside The Valley.

Wagstaff found enough space to fire a shot on goal on the edge of the box and although Giles Coke got in the way of his initial effort he drilled in the second shot to fire the hosts ahead.

Wagstaff could have doubled his tally on the half-hour mark as Charlton refused to sit back on their lead, curling a goal-bound effort which Weaver did well to tip wide.

The match was perhaps summed up in the first-half with the fact that Weaver was putting in a man-of-the-match performance and keeping Wednesday in the game.

Wednesday did manage to carve out a couple of good opportunities before half-time but they couldn't take them.

First, Buxton's dangerous cross saw Mellor and Tudgay both have chances blocked before the former blasted an effort inches wide of goal minutes later.

Half-Time: Charlton 1-0 Wednesday

The Owls continued their attacking threat straight after the start and Mellor had claims for a penalty fall on deaf ears when he was felled under the challenge of Therry Racon.

The visitors continued to push forward for a leveller, and keep their hosts out at the other end, in the early exchanges of the second half.

And Irvine added some more attacking bite with the introduction of Johnson in place of Teale.

The Jamaican added a more counter-attacking threat to Wednesday, who were undoubtedly improved on the resumption but chances were coming few and far between.

And it was the hosts, not a patch on their first-half form, who had a good chance to all-but seal their win but Paul Benson fired over the bar from close range when he should have done better.

Mellor had the only other chance before full-time when he headed wide of goal as Wednesday finished in disappointing fashion.

Full-Time: Charlton 1-0 Wednesday

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