Alice through the looking glass

Charlton's humiliation was emphasised by the wild gyrations of a giant rabbit. Photo: Kyle Andrews.

It was an Alice Through the Looking Glass day for Charlton as they were crushed 4-1 by a rampant Peterborough. Magennis missed a penalty and was jeered off by his own fans. Karl Robinson was first down the tunnel to access his big book of excuses, but as there is no board to sack him, his job should be safe. The only consolation was to see the grim visage of relegation specialist Alan Pardew after West Brom's 4-1 defeat at home by Leicester City. But then the pundits are now talking about Millwall as possible Premier League hopefuls.

Before the game Richard Cawley tweeted that it was like Alice in Wonderland at London Road with a bizarre giant rabbit, two builder mascots and a man and a woman walking around in top hats and smart clothes. Matt Wright later tweeted that Charlton losing brought things back to normality.

Charlton are now 8th in the table and are fortunate not to have fallen further: results at one point would have dragged them down to 10th.

The Addicks did look a bit better when Zyro came on (he scored their goal), but why not start with him rather than the out of form Magennis?

It was a very open game in the first half, although some fans who were there thought that Johnnie Jackson lacked the legs. On 15 minutes a Fosu shot was blocked on the edge of the box. A Forster-Caskey volley was saved. The home side showed their intent when they hit the post on 25 minutes. Aribo put in a decent shot from a tight angle, but it was saved.

With a minute of normal time remaining, a free kick caused havoc in the Charlton box. A cross to the back post was turned home by Hughes to make it 1-0.

The Addicks started the second half brightly, winning a series of corners, one nearly leading to an own goal. On 54 minutes a push on Magennis led to a penalty, giving Charlton the chance to equalise. Magennis put the ball just wide of the post, having wrong footed the keeper. Four minutes later Sarr conceded a penalty, allowing the Posh to go 2-0 ahead.

Kaikai and Magennis came off, to be replaced by Reeves and Zyro. A few minutes later Jackson was replaced by Ajose. On 73 minutes a Reeves ball from the right allowed Zyro to score with a header. This gave Charlton hope again, but on 81 minutes Marriott shot under Amos from a tight angle. It was Marriott who made it 4-1 on 85 minutes.

Richard Cawley of the SLP is running a poll on Twitter on whether Charlton will make the play offs. He has got over 400 replies in just 50 minutes and 89 per cent say no.