Horn Reserves 1-2 Charlton Reserves

An injury time winner was enough to give Charlton a narrow victory over the Hornets at The Valley last night.

No less than five of Aidy Boothroyd's transfer window signing took part in the clash, including Douglas Rinaldi making his first appearance for the club.

James Chambers and Clarke Carlisle were both playing their first competitive football since their respective injuries.

The Addicks took an early lead with only six minutes on the clock.

The experienced Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink found Alistair John on the overlap - he got the better of Jordan Parkes and sent a pinpoint delivery into the box.

Rurik Gislason found space in the Hornets' box and shot home past Scott Loach.

After the opener chances were coming for both sides and the 'Orns had a chance to equalise within ten minutes.

Addicks' utility man Rhys Coleman was nearly caught out by Carlisle after he delayed clearing a corner. The centre half intercepted but could just stab his effort over from ten yards out.

Loach was in good for the second string and pulled off a superb reflex save from Gislason.

Hasslebaink was also in on the action for Charlton and it required Loach to again be at his best to deny the former Chelsea striker with a hard save from a powerful shot.

Anthony McNamee tried his luck for Watford with an instinctive shot that went just over the crossbar.

The Golden Boys came out stronger after the break and put the home side under pressure before finding their equaliser on 62 minutes.

Rob Elliot in the Charlton goal had to be on his toes to deal with McNamee's cross which caused chaos in the box before a shot came in.

Moses Ashikodi had an effort spectacularly saved from just eight yards after Elliot made a rare error - while his strike partner Will Hoskins was in space free of defenders.

Ashikodi made up for his miss when he was alert to a second ball following a corner and reacted quicker than the Addicks' defenders to shoot past Elliot.

The ex-West Ham man then had a chance to win the game after pulling free of his marker but lost his footing at the crucial moment.

Substitute Theo Robinson, on for the goal scorer, was looking for another goal to add to his tally but he was reduced to a long range efforts.

The game looked to be heading for a draw before Coleman fired a header past Loach into the bottom corner following a deep ball from Josh Wright.

Despite a disappointing result at such a late stage in the game, the encounter will have given many of the players a chance to keep and improve their fitness ahead of a vital few weeks in the Premiership.

Watford: Loach, Chambers, Parkes, Rinaldi, Doyley, Carlisle, Williamson, Williams, Ashikodi (Robinson), Hoskins, McNamee

Goal: Ashikodi

Subs not used: O'Toole, Beasant, Campana, McCoy

Charlton: Elliot, Kurrant, Ashton, Staunton, Coleman, Basey, John, Wright, Hasslebaink, Gislason (Simmonds), Weston (Wagstaff)

Subs not used: Nielson, Harkin, Govas,

Goals: Gislason, Coleman

Booking: Wright

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