Football Corner

Blackburn today claimed their third straight win by dfeating Charlton 4-1. The defeat for Charlton ended their 100% away start to the season. Charlton looked off the pace throughout, and had barely had a kick when Emerton put his side in front. Hermann Hreidarsson miscontrolled an innocuous ball across the edge of the box, but there looked to be no immediate danger as Jonathan Spector shepherded Emerton away from goal. The Australian surprised everyone though as he swept a powerful shot from a narrow angle into the top corner.Blackburn belied their popular image as a mainly physical threat as they played some delightful football. Charlton were all at sea with passes going astray, and they were fortunate to escape when Craig Bellamy was wrongly adjudged offside with a clear run on goal. It got worse. Charlton again failed to clear their lines and they were made to pay as Lucas Neill's cross deflected off Spector to fall perfectly to an unmarked Dickov who headed in from six yards.

The Addicks were possibly unlucky not to get an offside decision this time, but it made little difference to the overall result. Charlton eventually got a foothold in the game as they started to hold on to possession in midfield. Spector's well-timed run beat the offside trap, but the full-back could not quite apply the acurate volley needed to beat Brad Friedel. Soon after, Michael Gray's hamstring injury forced a reshuffle in the Blackburn team, and the changes seemed to stop Rovers' momentum. Charlton's lacklustre performance scarcely merited it, but Hughes' brave slide at the far post got them back in the game. With Darren Bent starved of service, the striker turned creator and sent in a dangerous low cross that was helped on by Darren Ambrose before Hughes bundled the ball over the line. The goal finally got Charlton going, and they finished the half well on top.

Blackburn started the second half in the same dominant fashion as the first and had a clear penalty decision go against them when Hreidarsson handled Bellamy's cross. Fortunately for referee Phil Dowd, the mistake did not turn out to be critical as Pedersen notched their third on 59 minutes. Tugay and Emerton combined to set Steven Reid free down the right and his touch was expertly turned in by the Dane. Rovers continued to make chances with Bellamy's pace causing no end of problems for Charlton. A flowing move down the left ended with Emerton heading over from Bellamy's cross. Charlton never gave up and Hreidarsson's bullet header and Jay Bothroyd's stab drew two sharp saves from Friedel. The match looked to be fizzling, but there was still time for Bellamy to get on the end of Shefki Kuqi's knockdown and dab it past Anderson. Final score: Blackburn 4-1 Charlton.

A very very impressive victory by Blackburn and a very dissapointing defeat for Charlton. Charlton have got of to a good start this season but today they certainly didn't show any of the form they have been showing. That is three straight wins for Mark Hughes' Blackburn and it moves them up to 11th in the table whilst the defeat for Charlton drops them down to 7th.