Spot-on Bent puts Charlton in charge

Charlton 2 Liverpool 0

The Reds were looking to bounce back from last weekend’s defeat at Chelsea, and also keep the pressure on Manchester United in the race for second place.

But without the drive of injured captain Steven Gerrard and a distinct cutting edge in attack, Rafael Benitez’s men failed to capitalise on their early dominance and found themselves trailing at the break, a blow from which they never recovered.

Darren Bent netted a controversial penalty after being adjudged to have been tripped by Jerzy Dudek when the contact looked minimal at best.

And after skipper Luke Young drilled in a loose ball in the six-yard box during stoppage time, Liverpool were left with it all to do, a feat they never looked like achieving.

Afterwards, Liverpool boss, Rafael Benitez slammed the penalty decision. “It was unbelievable we have lost that game,” said a bemused Benitez. “For the first 40 minutes we were always attacking and it was one-way traffic. Then what happened was just crazy. It’s clear to see it wasn’t a penalty but when you concede a goal you then can’t concede another.”

Benitez refused to point the finger of blame at his players but admitted he’s concerned at the number of mistakes that are being made.

“We’ve got to learn from our mistakes and we’ve got to learn soon. If we want to win trophies we can’t concede a second goal straight after the first. We’ve been talking about mistakes after recent games and tonight we have made another two.”

Charlton started well but Liverpool soon went on the attack. Fernando Morientes found himself in space just inside the area in the seventh minute, but his side-footed, first-time effort was straight at Thomas Myhre.

As the half-hour mark passed it was still all Liverpool, yet the visitors were unable to turn their dominance into a clear-cut chance.

On 42 minutes, a chip through from Charlton’s Radostin Kishishev picked out Darren Bent running into the left side of the Liverpool area.

His first touch took him away from the advancing keeper, before, under what looked minimal contact at best, he went to ground.

It was enough to convince the referee, who pointed immediately to the spot and cautioned Dudek. Bent kept his cool to slot his 16th goal of the season, low into the left corner.

Charlton doubled their lead in stoppage time. Smertin’s cross into the near post was cut out by Jamie Carragher, but Addicks skipper Young was first to the rebound, and drove a low strike through Dudek’s legs.

Liverpool were quickest to settle following the restart, as they again dominated possession but Charlton nearly went three in front when Marcus Bent saw his strike bounce back off the base of the post.

The visitors piled on the pressure but couldn’t find the target. Charlton’s win condemned Benitez’s side to their third straight away league defeat.

CHARLTON: Myhre, Young, Perry, Hreidarsson, Spector, Hughes, Kishishev, Smertin (El Karkouri 83), Thomas (Ambrose 79), Marcus Bent, Darren Bent.

LIVERPOOL: Dudek, Finnan, Hyypia (Riise 70), Carragher, Traore, Cisse (Kromkamp 78), Sissoko, Alonso, Kewell, Morientes, Crouch (Fowler 60).

Referee: A Marriner (W Midlands).