Peterborough 2 Charlton Athletic 1 – Posh punish defensive mistake – and a slip – as Addicks suffer a setback

Charlton paid a high price for two mistakes as they lost 2-1 at Peterborough United tonight.

The Addicks had gone ahead when Conor Washington netted against his former club. The Northern Ireland international converted from the penalty spot in the 14th minute after referee Sam Purkiss ruled that Jason Pearce was pulled back by Ethan Hamilton.

Charlton defended well on a dreadful surface as Posh failed to test Ben Amos in the first period.

And just before the home side levelled the Addicks failed to make the most of a good chance on a night where clearcut openings were few and far between. Jake Forster-Caskey’s free-kick ended up dropping for Chris Gunter but the right-back could only guide his header over.

And moments later it was 1-1. And yet again it was the Addicks failing to deal with a long ball forward, in similar fashion to Colby Bishop’s goal against them for Accrington Stanley.

This time it was Frankie Kent with the direct play and when Pearce and Oshilaja failed to deal with the ball before it bounced, Jonson Clarke-Harris set up Sammie Szmodics to slip past Amos with 66 minutes on the clock.

Another error saw the South Londoners fall behind. Substitute Andrew Shinnie’s slipped over and suddenly Peterborough on the counter – once again they took it clinically. Clarke-Harris put Szmodics through again and once again he made no mistake with a right-footed finish.

Amos smartly saved with his left leg to deny the Posh attacker a hat-trick. The visitors never went close to a leveller in the closing stages despite the introduction of Chuks Aneke, Ronnie Schwartz and Jonny Williams.

Charlton remain in the League One play-off zone but have played a number of matches in hand of nearly every side in the top 10, other than Crewe.

PHOTOS: KYLE ANDREWS