Charlton Athletic 3 Ipswich Town 1

Last updated : 08 December 2007 By Footymad Previewer
After losing three of their last four matches at The Valley, Charlton Athletic found some decent home form with a 3-1 victory over Ipswich Town.

But for the visitors this was another dismal away day and they have now gone 15 matches away from home without a victory despite being unbeaten this season on their own ground.

The match was effectively won in the first half as Charlton raced into a three-goal lead inside the first 40 minutes with Ipswich failing to have a shot on target.

But it was a different story after the interval as, with nothing to lose, Ipswich went for broke.

They missed a penalty and pulled one goal back, but the deficit from the poor first half display proved too much for them.

Charlton got off to a bright start with a goal inside five minutes with two former Ipswich players the architects.

Matt Holland, who was making his 150th Charlton appearance, crossed from the right and Darren Ambrose headed home when unmarked at the far post.

Charlton increased their lead on the half hour when Ipswich goalkeeper Neil Alexander flapped at Andy Reid's corner as the ball went over his head where Chris Iwelumo had the simple task of bundling the ball home.

The home side effectively wrapped up the points when Holland was again involved playing in Ambrose whose shot took a deflection as it went into the net.

With Pablo Counago already on in the first half, Ipswich boss Jim Magilton made two more substitutions after the break and the visitors had a great chance to get a foothold into the game when Counago was fouled in the area but Alan Lee's spot-kick was brilliantly saved by Nicky Weaver.

Substitute Danny Haynes then hit the bar for the visitors with a header, but Charlton responded and went down the other end with Holland seeing his shot come back off the foot of the post.

Counago pulled a goal back for Ipswich with a cheeky back heel but it wasn't enough to save them from yet another embarrassing away defeat.

However, the home side saw the gloss taken off their afternoon when Jonathan Fortune was dismissed in stoppage time.