Stats favour Saints

The stats make bleak reading for tomorrow's clash at St. Mary's.   Congratulations to Jonathan Grade and the other supporters who are prepared to make the journey to the south coast.

The Saints are in fine form with three wins on the bounce and four victories in their past five (D1) to move within two points of the top six going into the weekend.

The Addicks are seven points clear of the relegation zone with three wins in their past seven games (D1 L3), having won just one of 11 previously (D3 L7).

Southampton won 5-1 away to Charlton in November of this season and could win home and away against them in a league campaign for the first time since 1989-90, which came in the top-flight.

Southampton have won both of their home games against promoted sides in the league this season (2-1 v Wrexham and 3-1 v Birmingham) – they last won three in a Championship campaign in 2007-08 (v Blackpool, Scunthorpe and Bristol City). 

Southampton are unbeaten in their past five league games (W4 D1), winning each of the past three on the bounce.

Charlton Athletic have won just one of their past 10 away league games (D3 L6), though that win came in their most recent game on the road (2-0 at Leicester).

Charlton have scored 11 goals via substitutes in the Championship this season, with only Ipswich Town scoring more (12). Indeed, both of Charlton's league goals in February came from substitutes (Tyreece Campbell vs Stoke and Jayden Fevrier vs Portsmouth).

I still remember our first game in the Premier League when we beat Southampton 5-1, albeit their keeper was sent off.  I think it was a 0-0 at Southampton when I got 50p coins thrown at me on the way to the station.

CAS Trust admit that 'it's a tough challenge' and are unsure which Charlton will turn up: https://www.castrust.org/2026/02/rebound-on-the-south-coast/

One thing we can be sure of is that the armchair managers will be busy on social media after the game.

Saints alive

Mercurial manager Nathan Jones faces his nemesis at Southampton tomorrow for the first time since his departure from the club.   Visits to the south coast have not worked out well for the Addicks this season and the pasting at home by the Saints was a humiliation.

A son-in-law who is a Saints season ticket holder remarked that 'the Nathan Jones effect didn't last long' but given that Charlton's budget is either the lowest in the league or the third lowest, depending on your source, anything above the relegation positions is a plus.

Jones told Richard Cawley about Sr. Mary's: “I’m looking forward to going back there. It’s a wonderful stadium. One thing is that I should take the pressure off the players - because I think all the comments and things will be on me. So my players should be free to play. Absolutely (he prefers that scenario). I’m not sure I’m taking my daughter to the game, but that is probably the only thing.”

Charlton produced a disastrous first-half showing in the reverse fixture against Southampton.They trailed 5-1 at the interval and conceded four goals in the space of eight minutes.

The Addicks now get the chance to make amends but face opposition that are one of the division’s form teams and still firmly in the mix to reach the play-offs.

Jones, talking about the heavy reverse at The Valley, said: “It hurt. It hurt us as a football club. It was on Sky. To lose in that manner hurt us as a team. It hurt me, individually, for every reason. I don’t need to explain those."

Jones admits supporter row

Talking to Richard Cawley, shell shocked supremo Nathan Jones was asked about the mention after the match of Jones exchanging words with a supporter in the Covered End before he left the pitch.

“Nothing, just a disagreement,” said the Welshman. “Just a fan who wants to vent. He pays his money, so he can do exactly what he wants. I disagree with what he said but that’s fine. It wasn’t anything structural, it was personal."

I'm not quite sure what 'structural' means in this context.   The mercurial manager would be best advised not to exchange views with fans after a home defeat.

There have been some unconfirmed social media reports of tensions between fans after the match, e.g., aggression towards fans wanting to applaud the team.

It's possible to take a sense of entitlement too far and a sense of perspective is needed.  With the third lowest budget in a highly competitive league (see the article in today's Times) anything above third from bottom is a satisfactory outcome.

I am still waiting for the 'Jones out now crowd' to come up with the name of a better available manager other than retreads Bowyer and Powell who know a poisoned chalice when they see one.   We don't have a pile of spare cash to compensate Jones.

Survival hopes setback

The Addicks were defeated 1-3 by Portsmouth at The Valley this evening.

Charlton goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski was at fault for Portsmouth's opener, allowing Devlin's ambitious dipping strike from 20 yards to squirm through his legs midway through the first half.

Colby Bishop's penalty doubled Pompey's advantage in the 35th minute before Devlin smashed in an excellent swerving effort via the post from 25 yards 11 minutes into the second half.

Stockport loanee Jayden Fevrier pulled one back for Charlton with a fine half-volley but John Mousinho's side held on for victory to move four points clear of the relegation zone with a game in hand, while Charlton remain seven points above Leicester City in 22nd.

Fitting tributes were paid to the late Charlton fan Barker, also known as 'headphones Norm', with a one-minute applause held in his memory before the game.

Harry Clarke had an excellent opportunity to put Charlton ahead after just 38 seconds when he latched onto a long ball forward and hit the target with a first time effort from 16 yards out but was well denied by Portsmouth goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid.

The Addicks had not conceded in their past three games, but Kaminski's error from Devlin's long-range strike gifted Pompey the lead in the 22nd minute to set the visitors on their way to just a third away win of the season from 15 games on the road.

Charlton felt they were hard done by for the penalty award for Portsmouth's second 12 minutes later, claiming left-back Amari'i Bell could not get out the way of a powerful cross by Gustavo Caballero, on his full debut, before  former Leamington ace Colby Bishop slotted down the middle from the spot.

After Devlin arrowed in his fifth goal of the season to become Pompey's joint top goalscorer, the Addicks rallied and threatened to create a tense finale when Fevrier pounced on a long throw-in to reduce the deficit with a fine spin and finish 25 minutes from time.

But Portsmouth stood firm for a rare away win and completed the league double over Charlton for the first time since 1985-86.

With only nine goals in 14 away games beforehand and 13 first team players missing through injury, victory could serve as a much-needed confidence boost for Portsmouth in their quest to stay up.

Defeat for Nathan Jones' side ended their three-game unbeaten run and consigned them to only a second loss on home soil in the past seven matches at The Valley.

Nathan Jones told BBC Radio London: "We were poor tonight. We were poor in moments. We had a glorious opportunity after the first minute which would have really set the tone for the night.

"Then we got dominated physically between both boxes. I can moan about the goals because it's gone straight through our goalkeeper, shouldn't go in.

"Second one, it's a penalty that's touched his chest first and then handball. And then they scored another one from distance.

"We have chances from five yards, we probably had better chances on the night but in between both boxes, we got dominated physically and that's not like us."

Relegation six pointer

Charlton currently lead the Championship Relegation League, but face six pointer at home to Portsmouth at The Valley tonight.   Blackburn, under new management, are now just one point behind the Addicks, having managed to probe the defensive weaknesses of the Super Hoops at the weekend.   Despite being the chosen club 'C' list West London celebs (aka Giles Coren), QPR are very erratic.

Pompey don't have the best of away records, having won just two, drawn five and lost seven.   They have scored just nine goals and conceded 23, more than any other clubs apart from the Baggies and the Massives.

After their 0-1 defeat to the Blades on Saturday, gaffer John Mourinho admitted they didn't show enough composure in front of goal and slashed at a few opportunities.   He noted that tonight's game at Charlton was the biggest one between now and the end of the season for the club in 21st place.

CAS Trust look back to the sad circumstances of the postponement of the original game: https://www.castrust.org/2026/02/charlton-welcome-portsmouth-on-tuesday/

There are no trains from Dartford or Medway for tonight's game: https://www.castrust.org/2026/02/no-trains-from-dartford-or-medway-for-portsmouth-game/

CAS Trust object strongly to the draft of the Local Plan for the Royal Borough of Greenwich as they feel that it does not give sufficient protection to The Valley: https://www.castrust.org/2026/02/cast-urges-rb-greenwich-to-recognise-and-protect-the-valley/

How Yann Kermorgant joined Charlton

Richard Cawley has published the latest instalment of the informative Peter Varney diaries on his Substack page,   Here is a small taster about the recruitment of Yann Kermorgant.

Chris was very keen on Yann Kermorgant at Leicester. There was a massive negativity around Yann. We looked at the Leicester forums. You didn’t have a Leicester fan that had a good word to say about Yann because he missed the penalty in the play-offs where he tried to chip it.   Chris said: “Trust me, this guy has the potential to go all the way through the leagues.”

We were up to our £4.2m budget. We only had £3,000 a week left. Yann was on £6,000 at Leicester. He had a French agent, Gregory, and we threw around certain ideas how money could be recovered if we got promoted.

Once it was all agreed, Yann came in and said: “Now you’ve got me we will get promoted. It’s as simple as that - there won’t be any issue with it.”

'More clubs than Tiger Woods'

Former Addicks striker Macauley Bonne is seeking to relaunch his football career at Billericay Town, Isthmian Premier League promotion hopefuls.  I lived in Billericay when I was at secondary school and I don't recall many barn doors in the surrounding countryside.

But Blues boss Danny Scopes is hopeful Bonne can lead them to promotion at New Lodge.  

The 30-year old front man recently played three international matches for Zimbabwe in the African Nations Cup in Morocco.   He described playing for The Warriors against teams like Angola as one of the best experiences of his career.

A season in non-league with Southend yielded just five goals in 30 appearances.   He then joined Maldon & Tiptree but lasted just two months at the ambitious Jammers.

Bonne admitted, 'I know I am a bit of a journeyman.  I've had more clubs than Tiger Woods.'

'As long as I'm kicking a ball and playing with a smile on my face, I'm happy', Bonne told today's Non-League Paper.

His reported fee when he joined the Addicks was around £200,000.