CHARLTON's worst run of the season leaves them within shooting distance of the chasing pack in the race for the play-offs.

It was not so long ago that an automatic promotion place looked on the cards for Alan Curbishley's men but as the paper went to press they were only three points ahead of seventh-placed Stockport.

Charlton were fifth, two points ahead of Wolves, and must look to their defence tonight if they are to avoid a further slip.

"We gifted three goals," said head coach Les Reed after the game at Edgeley Park on Saturday. "We gave ourselves an uphill struggle by giving away an early goal against the run of play," he said.

"We defended very poorly for all three goals and nullified all the good attacking play we had - especially in the first half," he added.

Stockport went ahead in the 12th minute through Kevin Cooper and he made it two after the break. The final nail in Charlton's coffin came in the 66th minute as substitute Andy Mutch converted.

Reed said that the players were down after the game but that the one-hour post-mortem was constructive rather than destructive. "Every player took an opportunity to say something," he said.

He said that the players have to put everything behind them and look forward to the 14 games remaining.

The first of those is away at Stoke tonight and the game should prove interesting as the Victoria Ground side are involved in their own battle against the threat of relegation.

Reed said one or two players had minor injuries but expected to have a whole squad to choose from. Training went well on Monday - "I think they were a bit sheepish coming in this morning but then we had a really good training session," said Reed.

Charlton return to the Valley on Saturday when they take on Huddersfield Town, before a nailbiter against West Brom next Tuesday.

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