A game of two halves on Saturday, the Addicks were torn apart in the first period but seemed on course for an unlikely come back after the break.

They snatched two goals in the first ten minutes and should have been awarded a penalty after Damion Stewart sent Wright-Phillips tumbling.

The defence in general, and Ben Hamer in particular, were culpable in the eyes of some. Chris Powell refused to point the finger at his keeper and had this to say to the assembled press corps:

“They win together, they lose together, they draw together. It’s all of them.

“It’s not his (Hamer’s) fault, it’s all of their faults and that’s what I said at half-time.

“They defend together, they attack together, they do everything together. You can’t just do it with one player, just as you can’t just blame one player, it’s all of them.

“That’s how it’s got to be, they have got to accept criticism and accept rollickings from one another but they have also got to accept when things go well.

“Winning and losing, you learn a lot about yourself and you learn a lot about the game. You learn a lot about your character and I learned a lot about my team in the first half – and second half – without a doubt.

“They showed a bit of character after the break. I asked them not to concede any more and I think they (County) only had one chance in the second half,” said Powell.

Hamer injured his ankle at Bournemouth but passed a late fitness test on Tuesday to face Colchester. Powell is a big fan of Hamer’s distrubution but with the benefit of hindsight, perhaps he should have given his keeper a break.

After an unbeaten home run of 18 games, stretching back to April of last year, the Addicks have succumbed twice in four days. The scenario bears comparison to when Huddersfield – ironically, the last team to take three points from The Valley prior to Colchester – lost their unbeaten record to Charlton in November. In their next game, Bournemouth defeated them at the Galpharm. Powell was anxious to stress how well his team had done but did drop a hint that a little complacency may have crept in:

“They are my team and they have been absolutely outstanding this season.

“Without a doubt – if I take that first half away – they’ve been a team and squad that I’ve been very proud of.

“Of course I don’t want anyone, the players, the staff or the supporters thinking that we are over the line. That has crept in a little bit.

“We are not there. We’ve got the points tally we’ve got because we’ve worked really hard to get them and played some good football at times, and dug in when we had to.

“We’ve had a plan A, a plan B, a plan C and more but you can have as many plans as you want, if you don’t do the basics right in that first period, then you are not going to win any football matches,” concluded the manager.

Powell will need to give some thought to his line-up at Scunthorpe. It has been a busy period and the team looked mentally jaded on Saturday. The central midfield duo have not been as effective recently and with Hughes, Pritchard and Russell waiting in the wings, Powell has room for manoeuvre in that area.

This is the time of the season when matches begin to take their toll and the introduction of a new face or two is what is needed to freshen things up.

The loan market may well be an avenue Powell goes down this week as he looks to regain momentum.