Charlton 1 Middlesbrough 0

Last updated : 21 October 2002 By David Robson

High-flying Middlesbrough, who had won their last three Premiership matches, suffered a shock 1-0 defeat as they were beaten by a battling Charlton Athletic side at the Valley.

Charlton went into the match having lost all four of their previous home Premiership matches this season and were bottom of the table after yesterday's results.

However, this win moved them up five places and manager Alan Curbishley said after the game that there was a sense of relief around the ground and hoped that the result would kick-start their season.

Middlesbrough boss Steve McClaren had no complaints about the result and said his team had had a bad day at the office.

Charlton got off to the best possible start with a goal after just five minutes as Claus Jensen's free kick was firmly headed into the net by Jason Euell.

The talisman for Charlton was young midfield star Scott Parker, who was making his first appearance of the season after an injury lay-off, and he was in the thick of all the action.

He shot just wide and there were other chances for Charlton to increase their lead from former Middlesbrough man Robbie Mustoe and Gary Rowett, who was also back for the home side after a long lay-off through injury.

Little was seen of Middlesbrough's talented international strikers and in the 68th minute a frustrated McClaren made three substitutions to try and pep up his troops but to no avail.

Boro's only really dangerous moment of the game came when Jonathan Greening's well-struck shot was tipped on to the post by Charlton keeper Dean Kiely.

Curbishley felt that for the first time this season he had almost a full squad to pick from. "This is a tight, tough league but when we have our best players available we are a match for anybody," he said