Charlton on top of their game

Charlton dealt comfortably with an admittedly poor Wimbledon side at The Valley this afternoon, beating them 2-0 on a bitterly cold, wet and windy afternoon. The Addicks remain in 5th place, but are level on points with Peterborough.

The Addicks suffered an early blow, with just 56 seconds on the clock when Naby Sarr was shown a straight red card by referee Trevor Kettle for a late lunge on Tennai Watson. Sarr now has the unenviable record of the fastest sending off in Charlton history.

Despite this it was Charlton who looked more composed in the early exchanges. They continued to press forward, with Pearce often prominent, and they almost went in front midway through the half when Joe Aribo found Taylor, whose shot was well blocked.

It took until the half hour for the visitors to create their first opportunity but Tom Soares blazed his effort well over. Numerical parity was restored in the 33rd minute when Mitch Pinnock followed in Sarr's footsteps. Pinnock, already on a yellow card for an earlier foul on Ben Reeves, picked up a second caution for diving after going to ground far too easily while trying to shake off the attentions of Patrick Bauer.

Reeves really should have done better when he blasted a shot high over Joe McDonnell's crossbar early in the second half and Aribo also saw two attempts fly off target in quick succession as Charlton continued to knock on the door.

Finally their hard work paid off on the hour and it was Taylor who made the Dons pay with a close-range finish after getting in front of Terrell Thomas to convert Nicky Ajose's excellent delivery.

McDonnell had to rush out of his area to thwart Ajose in the 75th minute, with Taylor testing the visiting keeper moments later with a shot. The game was wrapped up four minutes from time when substitute Mark Marshall, who had been lively when he came on, drilled a low angled drive into the bottom-left corner of McDonnell's net, his first goal of the season.

Lyle Taylor had to have an injection in his toe to enable him to play: Injection needed