Peterborough 1-5 Charlton

Braces from Johnnie Jackson and Lee Martin and one from Therry Racon sent over a thousand visiting supporters into raptures, while a free-kick from Grant McCann ended a 700 minute run without conceding.

The result sent Phil Parkinson’s men into second, behind runaway leaders Brighton who were defeated 3-1 at Hartlepool.

The Addicks started off brightly enough, and had the first good chance of the game a couple of minutes in when Jackson powered into the box from the left to fire a strong attempt straight at Joe Lewis in goal.

Club top scorer Scott Wagstaff found enough space from 30 yards out to curl a speculative effort onto the angle with around nine on the clock, while his closest rival in the scoring charts Paul Benson sent a header wide soon after.

Posh could have easily opened the scoring early on themselves after finding plenty of space in Charlton’s defensive third on the break, Craig Mackail-Smith collected a long punt upfield and squared for Lee Tomlin to force Rob Elliot to parry at full stretch for a corner.

But the visitors broke the deadlock on the quarter-hour mark when after Joe Anyinsah put Wagstaff through in the box in a dangerous enough position to provoke a foul from Boro skipper McCann for a penalty converted by Jackson.

It was the Reds’ first spot-kick of the season and saw McCann receive a booking for the foul, though it has to be asked how the offense inside a penalty area wasn’t denying a goalscoring opportunity and thus a straight red.

Despite having to sustain an endless barrage of corners from the home side, Charlton doubled their lead on 25 minutes shortly following another good shout for a penalty after Lee Martin’s mazy run into the box was halted by a heavy arm.

However, Racon rendered the debate redundant by smashing the loose ball into the roof of the net before celebrating in a manner not unlike Wagstaff’s famous FIFA-inspired ‘brick’.

And given the threat that Posh undoubtedly posed on the attack, it was quite shocking that they then found themselves four down within a matter of minutes.

With ten minutes until the break, Wagstaff played in Benson, whose attempt to take the ball forward in the box before shooting richocheted off a Posh defender and fell to Jackson on the edge of the six yard box to make it three.

And two minutes later, substitute Martin chipped over Lewis from a tight angle after a nice flow of passes from the Addicks to send the 1,358 travelling supporters into raptures and leave the home side to soak in a chorus of boos from their own.

Peterborough manager Gary Johnson made all three changes at half time in an attempt to fix the problems for the first half, and they did pull one back after ten minutes of second half play thanks to a textbook McCann free-kick.

The scorer of the goal brought further interest to the penalty in the first half – should McCann have even been on the pitch to put away such a chance?

With three pairs of fresh legs and momentum on their side, the Blues kept the pressure piled on in search of an eventual way back into the game – but the next goal once again went to the away side.

It looked like Posh had things covered after dispossessing the dangerous Martin, but an error allowed Benson to pounce and tee up Martin to tap into an empty net beyond the marooned Lewis.

The goal was the most important of the five as it cut Boro’s momentum dead and calmed the tempo of the game significantly.

Charlton: Elliot, Francis, Doherty, Dailly, Fry, Wagstaff (McCormack 56), Semedo (Reid 90), Racon, Jackson, Anyinsah (Martin 19), Benson. Subs not used: Worner, Fortune, Sodje, Abbott. Att: 7,477