BBC Sport
Charlton’s trip to the Potteries promised a flicker of renewed belief but ended in another night to forget.
A 3-0 defeat at Stoke City told its own story, though the script felt painfully familiar – defensive implosions, a couple of half-chances at best and that sinking certainty by half-time that it was all over again.
When the teamsheet dropped an hour before kick-off, optimism briefly returned. The reappearance of James Bree brought comfort, Lloyd Jones’ recovery reassured and the experience of Luke Berry added belief.
Yet all those flickers of promise were snuffed out swiftly, undone by two goals in the first five minutes (why did I leave that nice, warm, cosy pub?) and a third that…
