CHRIS Powell is looking to guide Charlton on a second winning run after the Addicks bounced back from their first league defeat with a 4-0 rout of Carlisle.

Goals from Yann Kermorgant (2), Bradley Wright-Phillips and Danny Hollands were followed by a penalty save from Ben Hamer as the Reds notched up their biggest win of the season so far.

And after a 12-match unbeaten run came to an end at Stevenage the previous weekend, Powell is confident his side have what it takes to pick up where they left off, starting with two away trips this week to Wycombe and Hartlepool.

He said: “Wycombe will be a tough game because recently they’ve had some good results at home.

“They’ve defeated Sheffield United recently and although they lost up at Oldham, they will be looking to rectify that on Tuesday night.

“We’ve been good away from home, even though we lost our undefeated record at Stevenage last week, but we picked up five wins and a draw before that.

“I’m sure it will be a good game.

“It will be tough but coming off the back of this win we'll go there in good spirit and good heart.

“Hartlepool will be a long trip.

“There’s quite a few of them in this league but we will prepare in the way we always do for our games and look to be clinical.

“We need to make sure we work hard, that's the first port of call, and we need to pass the ball with effectiveness like we did against Carlisle. We need to do that in each and every game.”

Powell admitted the scrappy 1-0 defeat at the Lamex Stadium hurt the side, but is glad his request for a reaction from the players came through loud and clear at The Valley on Saturday.

He explained: “I felt all week, ever since Monday when the team came back in after Stevenage, that the team were focused on the forthcoming games because it hurt to lose our undefeated record.

“But the bigger picture is what we want to do over the course of the season, so I challenged them to go on another good run and we started that off today.”

While the likes of Charlton, Huddersfield and the two Sheffield sides are beginning to pull away a little at the top of League One, the Addicks boss refuses to believe the top six is a certainty just yet.

He said: “When there are as many as three games in a week, some teams can win all three or lose all three and the league table changes in the course of that week.

“There’s a long way to go and a lot of points to be won.

“As it's been shown over the years, a team could be in the lower reaches at Christmas and go on a terrific run at the end, or the other way around.

“You can’t pin the title race down to five or six teams because any team can beat anyone in this division.

“You’ve got to really stay focused in each and every game to stay in the position we're in at the moment and we’ll be endeavouring to do that.”

Follow us on Twitter @NewsShopperSprt