Lee Bowyer revealed his frustration with the set-piece goal that cost Charlton in their 2-1 defeat to Preston North End.

Aston Villa loanee Andre Green put the visitors in front after just five minutes before a stunning Josh Harrop equaliser got Preston level again.

And as Green had scored against his former club, having spent the first half of this season on loan at Deepdale, Patrick Bauer would do the same after the break.

The former Addicks defender got free of his marker to powerfully head home Harrop’s inviting corner delivery for the lead not long into the restart.

Bauer sent Charlton back into the Championship when he scored a 94th-minute winner in last May’s League One play-off final but, in a cruel twist, he condemned them to defeat less than a year later.

Bowyer admitted Harrop’s strike was a “great finish” but said Preston’s second goal hurt him.

He said: “They scored a good goal. I've said to [the players] in the past, 'If someone gets the ball from 25 yards out and puts it in the top corner, sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say [it was a] great goal.'

“That is what happens in football.

“The first one, they get that, great finish, but then to lose the game on a set-piece hurts. That hurts me because that comes down to someone not doing their job properly. Just mark your man. That's happened too many times to us this season.

“To come here and fight and give everything we did, I can't fault their effort and their commitment again, but that quality in the final third lacked today. I think that was noticeable.

“We got into so many good areas, especially when we changed formation in the second half. We got the ball into so many good areas out wide and then kicking the ball behind the goal, [that was] not good enough.

“If you want to compete in this division you have to bring more quality in the final third.”

The Preston defeat is another in which Charlton have both conceded twice and lost by a single-goal margin, having now won just once in their last 17 attempts this season.

Although the injury crisis has been a factor, it is in stark contrast to the six-match unbeaten run Charlton went on to begin the campaign.

Bowyer added: “How many times has it happened? How many times have we conceded two goals this season? How many?

“More than we haven't. I can tell you that, and I ain't even thought about it. That's off the top of my head. If you keep conceding two goals, you ain't going to win games. It's as simple as that.

“We score near enough every game, but if you keep conceding two then you're going to lose more games than you will win. That's what winds me up and drives me mad because we probably deserved something from this game.

“But we end up coming away with nothing because someone falls asleep and we get hurt.”