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ROBERTS MAKES ADDICKS PAY

Jason Roberts scores against Charlton

Monday April 30,2007

By Peter Edwards

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JUST when you thought Charlton had finally got last summer’s chaos out of their system, Alan Pardew was reminded of another massive mistake made by the club.

Jason Roberts was all set to join the Addicks before the start of the season and even travelled down to the Valley for talks.

But, in the post-Alan Curbishley turmoil, Roberts could smell trouble and opted for Blackburn instead.

The striker was proved right as the woeful mishandling of short-term bosses Iain Dowie and Les Reed turned the Londoners upside down.

He rubbed salt in the wound with a two-goal man-of-the-match display that left Charlton clinging to Premiership safety.

Pardew claims his side can still survive if they take four points from the last two games – against Spurs at home and Liverpool away. But the sight of Roberts running his defence ragged will have done nothing to change the manager’s view that the seeds of the current crisis were sown a long time ago.

Roberts admitted: “We had talks after it was clear I was leaving Wigan and I thought hard about it. But I felt Blackburn was the right move for me.

“Alan Curbishley had just left and it wasn’t clear how they’d be without him. I know that I made the right decision to join Rovers.

“Blackburn could also offer me UEFA Cup football and I liked the area where I live. I can’t say I’ve got any regrets.”

Charlton’s suicidal streak was plain for all to see as Scott Carson somehow let Roberts’ shot slip through his grasp to give Rovers a 60th-minute lead.

Soon after, Ben Thatcher added another chapter to his bulging disciplinary record when he needlessly collected a second yellow card for a foul on David Bentley.

After Stephen Warnock had gifted Darren Bent the equaliser, Hermann Hreidarsson restored Blackburn’s lead with a clumsy own-goal and Matt Derbyshire made sure. But it was the Carson gaffe that set the tone, although Matt Holland was quick to leap to the keeper’s defence.

“There is no doubt in my mind that Scott should be our player of the year,” he said. “He has been outstanding and saved us on many occasions. So you feel for him that he’s made a mistake.”

Carson’s one-time Liverpool team-mate, Warnock, added: “Scott had a day he will want to forget and sometimes that
happens. But he has been one of the best keepers in the league this season so I hope his team-mates won’t blame him because he has been in fantastic form and has won them a lot of points during the 12 months he has been there.

“I’m not sure whether he’ll be able to keep them up now because results have gone against them this weekend.
They’re capable of it, but it’s going to be difficult.”

Boss Pardew added: “We’ll need at least four points, and we need a turn in our favour somewhere along the line.”

BLACKBURN 4
CHARLTON 1

BLACKBURN (4-4-2): Friedel 6; Emerton 7, Samba 6, Nelsen 7, Warnock 5; Bentley 7 (Nonda 84, 5), Dunn 5 (Kerimoglu 46, 6), Mokoena 6, Pedersen 8; Roberts 9, McCarthy 7 (Derbyshire 81, 7). Booked: McCarthy. Goals: Roberts 60, 80, Hreidarsson 77og, Derbyshire 83.

CHARLTON (4-4-2): Carson 4; Young 5,
El Karkouri 6, Hreidarsson 4, Thatcher 2; Ambrose 4 (Rommedahl 79, 5), Song 7, Holland 6, Thomas 4 (Zheng 67, 5); M Bent 5 (Bougherra 73, 5), D Bent 7. Booked: Thatcher. Sent Off: Thatcher 64. Goal: D Bent 71.

Referee: M Dean (Wirral).