Middlesbrough 1-0 Charlton Athletic: George Saville's early goal enough to beat Addicks
- Published
George Saville's goal was the Northern Ireland midfielder's first for Middlesbrough in eight months
A first-minute goal was enough for Middlesbrough to put a four-point gap between themselves and the Championship relegation places as they beat Charlton at the Riverside.
Boro needed just 52 seconds to score as George Saville pounced after Britt Assombalonga's shot had taken a deflection and Ashley Fletcher kept the ball alive.
The Addicks, who have won just twice in 14 games since mid-September, created no chances of note in a performance that will worry boss Lee Bowyer.
And Middlesbrough could have increased their lead as Marcus Tavernier, Hayden Coulson and Assombalonga all missed good opportunities to score.
The only positive for Charlton, who stay in 17th place, was that five-goal striker Lyle Taylor returned after more than three months out with injury as a half-time substitute.
Middlesbrough put their 4-0 hammering at high-flying Leeds behind them as they dominated the opening period, with teenage full-back Djed Spence impressing on his debut.
Saville almost doubled the lead after eight minutes, and Coulson came close to scoring after a defensive blunder.
It was more of the same after the break as Tavernier volleyed over from four yards after an hour and Dillon Phillips saved well as Fletcher went close late on for Boro, who moved up to 19th place.
Conor Gallagher had Charlton's best effort with 20 minutes to go, but having turned his man well and run into the penalty area, he curled an effort wide.
Middlesbrough boss Jonathan Woodgate:
"Djed (Spence) came in and did an absolutely fantastic job. I thought he was exceptional, and it's his place to lose now because of that performance.
"I just said, 'Get the ball Djed, and run'. It's not rocket science. It's quite simple messages you give these young kids, you don't have to complicate the game for them.
"I thought it could have been three or four nil. We dominated throughout, creating chances, and in the second half I thought we looked very dangerous on transition.
"When they had a bit of play, we soaked it up. It was a very pleasing result."
Charlton manager Lee Bowyer:
"It wasn't good enough. From the first whistle, they were better than us. There's not many times I've watched a game and we've been that poor.
"It's not like our side. Our side is normally fighting and competing, but they just looked nervous in possession, I've never seen them like that before.
"I'll just have to put it down to one of those bad experiences, I guess. We didn't win a second ball all day, we didn't stop crosses and we defended poorly for the goal.
"Conceding in the first minute? That can't happen. But I've been in charge for 18 months and this is really the first time I've had to question them like I have."