Two late, late Oxford United goals sunk Charlton Athletic at The Valley on Saturday afternoon.

Ahmed Kashi opened the scoring just past the hour mark, then there was a flurry of late goals.

James Henry levelled for Oxford, only for Josh Magennis to restore the Addicks’ lead two minute later.

Strikes at the death from‎ Todd Kane and Ryan Ledson saw Oxford snatch the points in dramatic fashion.

Karl Robinson made two changes from the side that beat Walsall; Jake Forster-‎Caskey and Tariqe Fosu returned, with Joe Aribo and Ben Reeves dropping to the bench.

New boys, Sullay Kaikai and Michal Zyro, were also among the substitutes.

Oxford lost striker, Wes Thomas, to injury during the warm up. Jon Obika took his place in the starting line-up.

The game started at a lively pace and both sides had early chances. Fosu had a fierce shot parried by Simon Eastwood, and Mark Marshall headed a Stephy Mavididi cross wide.

Obika came close for the visitors, his effort from 20 yards struck the underside of the bar.

Kashi gave Charlton the lead just past the hour mark, when his shot from the edge of the box beat Eastwood, though the keeper may feel he should have done better.

Mavididi was taken off with a hamstring problem 20 minutes from the end, and Zyro came on for is debut.

Robinson replaced Marshall with Kaikai at the same time.

Neither of the newcomers really had time to make an impression, but neither of them contributed much defensively.

If the game started in a lively fashion, it was eclipsed by the late drama.

Henry sent the travelling fans into raptures when he drove a ball from the right home from the edge of the box after 76 minutes.

Their joy was short lived however. Fantastic work by Jay Dasilva down the left gave Magennis the chance to end his goal drought. The big Irishman stabbed the ball over the line from close range.

If the Addicks thought they had the game wrapped up, they were wrong. Kane converted a pull back two minutes from time, and Ledson won the game for the visitors in stoppage time, when he also converted a pull back.

Charlton’s inability to see the game out was naive, and Robinson was understandably furious after the game:

“We lost our discipline with five minutes to go. It was clear what the game plan was, and that was not carried out.

“We put someone on to go more defensive and we asked our wingers to give our full-backs more protection. They didn’t do that.

“We let a player run – which we worked on on Friday – for their second goal. We spoke about it at length and someone chose not to do it.

“When we were leading, we got too confident and we became individuals, offensively.

“I’ve not seen that before. It became ‘I want to score’ rather than ‘we need to score’. There were no positives, for me, we lost,” said the gaffer.

Robinson will be looking for a quick response‎ from his side when they visit Doncaster on Saturday. ‎

 

Charlton: Amos; Solly, Konsa, Lennon, Dasilva; Kashi, Forster-Caskey, Marshall (Zyro 70), Fosu (Aribo 87), Mavididi (Kaikai 70); Magennis.

Subs (not used): ‎Phillips, Jackson, Bauer, Reeves.

Goals: Kashi 63, Magennis 78.

Booked: Lennon 58 (foul).

Oxford: Eastwood; Kane, Martin, Mousinho, Smith-Brown; ‎Buckley-Rickets, Ledson, Ruffels, Rothwell (Ricardhinho 78); Mowatt (Henry 70), Obika (Napa 34).

Subs (not used): Shearer, Dickie, Carroll‎

Goals: Henry 76, Kane 88, Ledson 90.‎

Referee: Keith Stroud (Hampshire).

Attn: 11,747 (1,381 Oxford).