The bumper Valley crowd did not get the result most of them wanted. The Addicks went down to a 1-0 defeat to Pompey when Josh Magennis put a Gareth Evans free-kick through his own goal shortly after the restart.

The Valley was awash with ‎nostalgia before kick-off. Some of the players who appeared in the first game back at The Vallley in 1992 answered questions in the Fans’ Bar.

Opera singer Martin Toal – a regular in the club’s Premier League days – also returned to sing three songs.

Joe Aribo was the sole survivor of the team that started at Swansea on Tuesday. He replaced the injured Ahmed Kashi and was one of Charlton’s better players on the day.

The Addicks had the best of things early on without creating much, but Portsmouth had the upper hand after the break, and scored the winner after 46 minutes.

‎Evans fired in one of the pacy, diagonal free-kicks that defenders hate. The ball ended up in the far corner of the net, with Magennis appearing to get the final touch.

‎Pompey should have put the game to bed midway through the second period when Chris Solly was penalised for pulling Brett Pitman’s shirt in the box.

Pitman took the spot-kick himself but was foiled by Ben Amos’ fine save.

Leon Best came closest to scoring for Charlton late on. Solly fired in a cross from the right, Best headed the ball down, and it took a fine save by Luke McGee to maintain the visitors’ lead.

Karl Robinson’s team have been in indifferent form for a while now, and need to regain their previous level of creativity if they are to scale the table again.

Charlton: Amos; Solly, Konsa, Sarr, Dasilva; Aribo (Reeves 87), Forster-Caskey, Marshall (Best 82), Clarke (Ahearne-Grant 75), Holmes; Magennis‎.

Subs (not used): Phillips, Jackson, Pearce, Lennon‎

Booked: Holmes 71 (foul).‎

Portsmouth: McGee; Thompson, Burgess, Clarke, Haunstrup; O’Keefe, Rose, Evans, Chaplin (Bennett 46), Lowe; Pitman.

Subs (not used): Bass, Kennedy, Main, Talbot, May, Casey‎
Goal: Magennis 4‎6 (own goal).

Booked: Evans 69 (foul), Thompson 74 (foul).‎

Attn: 16,361 (3,870 Portsmouth).‎

Referee: Andy Madley ‎ (West Yorkshire).