Charlton 0 Reading 1 – Two big refereeing calls prove pivotal as Addicks suffer third straight defeat

Charlton Athletic suffered a 1-0 defeat to Reading – with two major calls going against the South Londoners.

The Addicks fell behind to a George Puscas penalty but then saw a Chuks Aneke goal disallowed for offside before the interval, even though replays seemed to show that the striker was onside as he followed up on Aiden McGeady’s parried effort.

And substitute Jake Forster-Caskey was booked for simulation by referee Darren Bond even though replays appeared to clearly show his shirt was being held inside the Royals box.

Charlton fell behind after just three minutes. John Swift played in Andy Rinomhota on the right of the box and he was tripped by Deji Oshilaja. Puscas sent his spot-kick down the middle of Dillon Phillips’ goal for his 14th goal of the campaign.

The Addicks did not force Reading keeper Rafael Cabral into action enough. Bonne kicked the advertising hoarding in frustration when his flick at the near post from Aiden McGeady’s 30th-minute cross flashed across the face of goal.

Aneke headed wide from a deep Josh Cullen corner but Charlton’s lack of quality in the final third was an issue again. It is the third time in four matches that they have failed to score. It is nine matches ago that they last managed to score more than one goal in a Championship match.

Bowyer was unhappy with the officials and walked over to give them a frank appraisal of their display at the full-time whistle. If those couple of key decisions had gone the way of his side then the outcome could have been different.

PICTURES BY KEITH GILLARD