A 20th minute Curtis Main goal was enough to give Portsmouth a 1-0 win at a rain lashed Valley on Tuesday evening.

The Addicks came close to levelling at the death when a peach of a ball in from the left by substitute, Ricky Holmes, was steered over the bar by auxhilary striker, Naby Sarr.

The Addicks piled the pressure on in the closing stages, and Dillon Phillips joined Sarr as an extra man up front.

Karl Robinson fielded a stronger side than a week ago, but had to replace Tariqe Fosu after just nine minutes.

Fosu limped‎ off, but hopefully the leading scorer’s substitution was a precautionary measure.

Jamie Mascoll again impressed at left-back, and the team was skippered by Patrick Bauer.

The result secured Pompey top spot in Southern Group A, while Charlton finished‎ as runners-up.

Robinson’s side will now be away to one of the other Southern Group winners in the Second Round of the competition.

After the match, the manager had this to say about Sarr moving forward:

‎”It’s been something, and people might laugh at me for saying this, we’ve been questioning a lot of the season. I’ve looked behind me. I thought ‘he’s 6ft 3in/6ft 4in, he’s technically excellent, he can run’. It might be something that we use even in the league campaign.

“He’ll certainly be a threat up there. I don’t think there are many bigger, more powerful out there.

“‎He’s great with his feet and he’s really endearing h‎imself to everybody at the moment, I think you saw that when you heard the fans clap him.

“The man has been an amazing person since he walked in, very polite, very well mannered, worked his socks off and really wants to be here.”

Robinson went on to say he did not think Fosu’s injury was serious:

“He had a tight thigh that went and stiffened up on him after a few minutes.

“I wasn’t going to take any chances on that so we immediately took him off. I’d be very surprised if he’s not available to play against MK Dons),” ‎and he concluded with his thoughts on the match

“Our performance today was alright. We made a number of changes, we huffed and puffed but we’re just trying to get minutes into our legs.

“That was the whole idea, we qualified last week so it’s done what we asked really. We’ll build ourselves up ready for MK Dons a week on Saturday.

‎Charlton: Phillips; Dijksteel, Bauer, Sarr, Mascoll; Fosu (Reeves 9), Clarke, Ahearne-Grant (Holmes 68); Dodoo (Hackett-Fairchild 5c).

‎Subs (not used): Maynard-Brewer, Barnes, Forster-Caskey, Marshall.

 

Portsmouth: McGee; Evans, Hawkins, Thompson, Donohue; May, Rose, Lalkovic (Kennedy 58), Chaplin (O’Keefe 86), Naismith; Main (Lowe 58).

‎Subs (not used): Bass, Haunstrup, Burgess, Kennedy, Pitman.

Goal: Main 20.

Referee: Nick Kinseley (Essex).

Attn: 1,307 (206 Portsmouth).

 

The Addicks’ postponed match against Shrewsbury has been rearranged for Tuesday 23 January.

It will be interesting to see if the Shrews‎ are still top of the table in eleven weeks time. Also, Charlton may have added a player or two to their ranks by then.