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SUNDAY TIMES
Jonathan Northcroft

Luke Young, Darren Bent and Danny Murphy were all disappointments, although they were not helped by the general mediocrity of Charlton Athletic.

Given that Charlton arrived with the only perfect away record in the League, this was quite a result. Controlling the match for all but a brief stretch, Blackburn’s victory was punctuated by a goal in the final seconds. From Shefki Kuqi’s flick-on, Bellamy controlled and expertly drove a shot past Stephan Andersen.

Charlton were shredded within 19 minutes. After just two, Brett Emerton had buried the ball in the top corner of Charlton’s net. Hermann Hreidarsson tried to control Michael Gray’s centre on the chest and deflected the ball to Emerton, who dropped a shoulder, went outside Jonathan Spector and struck a curling effort thigh past Andersen.

Charlton like to be the ones playing on the counter-attack and were thrown by opponents so effective at doing the same. Chris Perry deflected another hefty Emerton drive for a corner and Tugay whistled a shot close.

Darren Ambrose’s over-eagerness made him strive to keep the ball when he was so unbalanced that he had no hope of doing anything with it. It was merely picked up by Tugay, who fed Neill. His cross looped into the box off Bryan Hughes’s head. Dickov might have been offside when he stole beyond Perry to place a header past Andersen but Charlton’s indignation was tempered when Phil Dowd, the referee, denied Blackburn a penalty when Hreidarsson handled.

Murphy looked disconsolate when he was substituted after making little impact and Bent was peripheral. He has the consolation of already being in the Under-21 squad but his hope of promotion, in event of injuries, to the full England ranks for the Argentina match must have faded. Charlton had only one spell, before half-time, when they came to terms with Blackburn. Hughes scored from close range under pressure from Brad Friedel after Ambrose flicked on Bent’s cross, but Pedersen restored Blackburn’s comfort level when he arrived late to stroke Reid’s cross in off Young’s shins.

OBSERVER

IanWhittell

For Sven Goran Eriksson, the visitors were the object of his visit to Ewood Park but for the English football community in general, it is Blackburn Rovers who should be firmly in their thoughts, and for all the right reasons.

It was a wretched afternoon for Danny Murphy, trying to impress the England manager before he names a squad today to take on Argentina on Saturday, and his Charlton team-mates who surrendered their 100 per cent away record inspectacular fashion against a rampant Rovers.

From the second minute when Brett Emerton launched a fantastic long-range shot into the top corner after slack defending from Hermann Hreidarsson and goalkeeper Stephan Andersen, there was only one likely outcome.

Paul Dickov was left unmarked to head in a second from six yards in the 18th minute and, only after the loss of the injured Michael Gray momentarily upset Rovers' organisation, did Charlton show signs of life, Brian Hughes bravely forcing in Darren Bent's cross nine minutes before the interval.

Brad Friedel earned his match fee with fine saves to deny Hreidarsson, Jay Bothroyd and Talal El Karkouri but this was not an afternoon for Murphy and Charlton to savour as Craig Bellamy confirmed in injury-time, controlling Shefki Kuqi's flick-on from Pedersen's free-kick and completing the rout.