A lone strike from substitute, Joe Thompson, after 70 minutes was enough for Rochdale to take all three points and maintain their League One status.
For Charlton, genuine chances were few and far between, Patrick Bauer had a header cleared off the line in the first-half, and Ben Reeves appeared to be thrown to the ground in the box after the interval. But referee, Tony Harrington, waved aside the Addicks’ protests.
Gillingham took an early lead against Plymouth, and ran out comfortable winners, so there was never a realistic chance of Charlton dropping out of the play-off zone.
The Addicks will face Shrewsbury at The Valley on Thursday, with the return leg being played three days later.
The winners will face either Rotherham or Scunthorpe for a place in the Championship at the end of the month.
Lee Bowyer was able to rest one or two of his key players, and with the play-offs in mind, Jake Forster-Caskey was taken off after an hour.
The biggest cheer of the afternoon was reserved for retiring skipper, Johnnie Jackson, who came on for his 499th career appearance late on.
Bowyer will have been delighted to get through the match without picking up any further injuries, and had this to say at the final whistle:
“I just said to the players when I took charge I said we would make the play-offs, we will make the play-offs, believe in yourself and we will.
“You’ll have to fight for 10 games and prove everybody wrong. Everybody doubted we would make the play-offs, so I’m not going to stand here and criticise them after today’s performance when they’ve given me absolutely everything for 10 games.
“I’m proud of them, this is just the start. This is phase 1. This was the first task that I set them. The next task is to get to Wembley.
” We’ve got two tough games against Shrewsbury, and they will be tough, but we’ll need our fans on Thursday for sure to get behind us like they did for Blackburn. I’m excited.”
Charlton: Amos; Konsa, Bauer, Pearce , Dasilva; Marshall, Kashi, Forster-Caskey (Reeves, 61), Aribo (Jackson, 88); Kaikai (Mavididi 71), Zyro.
Subs (not used): Phillips, Sarr, Dijksteel, Magennis.
Rochdale: Lillis; Rafferty, McGahey,McNulty (Davies 67), Delaney; Rathbone (Thompson 67), Camps, Inman (Hart 86), Done; Andrew, Henderson.
Subs (not used): Humphys, Wiseman, Moore, Mitching.
Booked: McGahey 27 (foul).
Goal: Thompson 70.
Referee: Tony Harrington (Cleveland).
Attn: 5,294 (1,161 Charlton).
TAGS: Charlton Athletic