Penalty pain for Charlton

Charlton were defeated 0-1 by Preston North End at The Valley this afternoon as a result of a second half penalty. Getting the first train of the day from Leamington, I was surprised to see a 'Charlton Athletic, pride of South London' sticker above my seat, but it was not a good omen.

In the first half we seemed to be very vulnerable down our right. In the second half Preston players kept falling down injured, while their fouls produced a flurry of yellow cards which did not concern them at all.

It took a disputed penalty to earn the visitors three points when Jason Pearce's grapples with Jayden Stockley proved sufficient to make the North End striker stumble to the floor. But Gallagher - only on as a first-half sub for the injured Daniel Johnson - converted his trademark spot kick, facing the wrong way back down the pitch as he lined up over the ball, before then walking back to his mark and turning smartly to run in and slam home a right-foot power drive into home keeper Dillon Phillips' bottom right corner. Phillips went the right way, but could not stop the shot.

Especially in the second half, Preston always looked the more likely side to score against a Charlton side who have had fewer shots this season than any other in the Championship. Neil's men could have won by more, but Phillips made a string of fine saves, notably two late on to deny Stockley and Tom Barkhuizen.

Yet, in the fifth of the nine minutes of time added on, Charlton almost snatched an equaliser when Preston keeper Declan Rudd missed Josh Cullen's corner but Ben Purrington was unable to force the ball home.

Lee Bowyer said: 'A draw would probably have been a fair result but we will learn. It was a penalty. One of our most experienced players has made the wrong decision. They're an experienced side who have been in that situation a lot. So it can be frustrating. But maybe we've got to learn to start doing that ourselves. On clear-cut chances I would have said it was quite even. But we were sloppy in possession, probably the worst we've been. We gave the ball away a lot. A frustrating day.'