PNE aim to pile on agony for Riga

On April 29, 2012, they took on PNE as League One champions – the title already in the bag with room to spare.

It was the afternoon when Graham Alexander marked his retirement as a player by scoring with a stoppage-time free-kick.

The Addicks’ stay in the Championship is now looking increasing precarious. They are six points adrift of safety and propping up the rest of the division.

Jose Riga’s men have won just one of their last 15 league games, the latest game in that run being a 3-0 defeat in the London derby at Fulham on Saturday.

Unless there is a dramatic turnaround in their form, the drop looks inevitable.

Not that North End boss Simon Grayson will be taking them lightly.

He wants the same effort and commitment seen during the weekend victory against Sheffield Wednesday.

Grayson said: “Charlton have some pace in their team and will try and hit us on the counter attack.

“They have threats and experience which we have to be aware of.

“In January they did quite a lot of recruitment which added to the squad.

“Their players will be desperate to get out of this situation because no player wants to have a relegation on their CV.”

As well as their struggles on the pitch, Charlton have their problems off it.

Fans protested last month against the ownership of Roland Duchatelet, the Belgian having taken over two years ago.

He appointed former Blackpool boss Riga as head coach for a second time last month, three others having done the job in between his two spells.

Said Grayson: “There seems to be a little bit of unrest at the club off the field.

“They are a club run in a different way to some others. If you were to compare them to us, it is a completely different set-up.

“That is not something for us to get concerned with, we have to concentrate on what we do.”

Charlton’s squad has very much a continental flavour, with 16 different nationalities represented.

Their top scorer is Danish striker Simon Makienok with five goals – he was signed on loan last month from Italian side Palermo.

Iceland international Johann Berg Gudmundsson has netted twice.

Makienok is one of six players to have been signed on loan in the last few weeks.

Ex-France international Rod Fanni joined from Al-Arabi and Yaya Sanogo came from Arsenal.

Diego Poyet, son of former Sunderland and Brighton boss Gus Poyet, was signed from West Ham, with Yun Suk-Young recruited from Queens Park Rangers.

A permanent signing was Jorge Teixeira from Standard Liege.

Riga insists that he can guide Charlton to safety.

He said: “I still believe and still hope that we can find a solution.”