CHARLTON’S dismal home form continued on Saturday to leave manager Chris Powell questioning whether his team deserve to continue receiving their home support.
More than 20,000 saw the Addicks slump to defeat against Burnley at the weekend, their eighth home loss of the season.
The reverse was also the Addicks’ fifth in seven games and Powell admitted his side have to improve soon or face being sucked into a relegation battle.
“Our supporters have been terrific,” said the Addick’s boss.
“In some ways we don’t deserve it because of how bad our home form has been.
“Now we have two trips away and we have been excellent on the road this year.
“Our next home game is a local derby against Millwall and it’s a game no one needs any introduction to.
“I don’t think the players will need me to really gee them up for a game like that.
“But we have two difficult games at Peterborough and at Huddersfield that we need to get something from.
“We need to turn it around.”
Powell added: “We haven’t had enough wins recently and we need to get points from Peterborough and from Huddersfield.
“I still think you have got to remain positive and look upwards, but being a manager I’ve got to be quite careful in respect that I know this year is a tough year for us.
“We set the bar high last year but it was a different level.
“This year stability is what it’s about for us and remaining a Championship side.
“In the Championship you can get a good result and then the next game it doesn’t happen for you. That’s the nature of this league.
“I know Norwich and Southampton maybe have changed a lot of people’s perceptions, but when you look at a lot of the sides that eventually come out of it they have two or three seasons in it the majority of the time.
“They are in the Championship for a number of years getting used to what it’s like, getting used to the quality and getting used to it financially.
“Then you make a play for it.
“If you look at Brighton, they came in last year, made sure they were a stable side and then pushed on more this year.
“I think that’s the way we should look at it - we make sure we are a Championship side and then go on from there.”
A wonder-strike from Charlie Austin proved to be the difference between the two sides and the prolific forward has now scored in every match that he has played at The Valley since signing for Swindon in 2009.
The Addicks failed to test Burnley keeper Lee Grant until the final half hour and Powell was at least happy with the response from his team after being outplayed in the opening half.
He said: “In the first period it was a little bit end-to-end.
“Obviously we were beaten by a wonder-strike, but in the second period of course we were in the ascendancy and created more chances and that was helped by the impact of the two subs.
“The half-time message was for more urgency, more quality and the players certainly showed that.
“I felt the performance was good from the players, they really stuck at it and tried their best, especially in the final third, to make things happen.
“They did but we came across a side that were resilient in their defending.
“We came across a keeper who made some good saves and we missed an open goal.
“I feel we should definitely have got something from it but sadly again for us here it wasn’t to be.”
Charlton are away to Peterborough tomorrow evening at 7.45pm.
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