Charlton Athletic suffered their ninth loss of the season to 10th placed Fleetwood Town, in a 1-0 defeat which saw striker Ched Evans score the only goal of the game.
After a fairly uneventful first half, Charlton keeper Dillon Phillips was called into action to deny a Fleetwood free-kick, which was parried into the path of Paddy Madden, who fired his effort over the bear from six yards out.
Moments later, Charlton midfielder Krystian Bielik gave the home side a chance to take the lead as Evans picked up a loose ball and drove in to box. His effort was well saved by Phillips, although shouts for a handball were waved away by the referee.
Fleetwood took the lead with 68 minutes gone, after substitute Ashley Hunter’s diagonal ball from the left was nodded down by Madden into the path of Evans who fired the ball past the keeper on the half-volley.
New Signing Debut
The visitors had a chance to level through new signing Josh Parker, who forced Alex Cairns into a save and tipped the ball past the far post, denying him his first goal as an Addick.
Another chance fell to Evans as a result of a horrendous mix-up between Phillips and Chris Solly, which saw the keeper leaving his goal gaping, however, Evans could not capitalise and his effort went wide of the right post.
Red Card
Things got worse for Charlton as Patrick Bauer was sent off after receiving a second yellow card for a foul on Evans, and Bauer will now miss the game against Southend United on Saturday at The Valley.
Charlton now sit fifth in League One and are comfortably within the playoffs with seventh placed Doncaster Rovers seven points behind the Addicks.
