By then his team had already taken the lead with the injury-plagued Graham Stuart's first goal since January 2002. A clever ball inside the defence by Claus Jensen found Jonatan Johansson who struck it powerfully. This pitched the Frenchman against Scott Parker, creating a contest between the two best midfielders outside the big-five clubs. "Charlton play with a narrow midfield and we tried to go man-for-man," Coleman said. "We were at sixes and sevens."However his team - who have been the strongest starters, scoring five times in the opening 15 minutes of games, came closest early on. Louis Saha turned Mark Fish with alarming ease but his shot was smartly parried.Coleman varied his formation - pushing Steed Malbranque inside although still keeping a lone striker. "For the first time I'm not talking about 40 points," he explained.
More is wanted and a top-10 finish - a realistic aim - is his target.For Fulham it was the first time they had suffered back-to-back defeats under Chris Coleman and as such represents a challenge to this fledgling manager. "We did not play well from start to finish," he said with candour. The deserved three points represent only a second home League win. But Charlton are now on a six-match unbeaten run, including five wins and their best start Happy Birthday Alan Curbishley - 46 on the day. The foundations are in place on and off the pitch and there is much cause for celebration.Afterwards he was initially circumspect: "We aren't getting carried away with it.
It wasn't long ago that we were fourth from bottom," before adding: "We have to enjoy it, we have a week off now." Curbishley also said that he has re-scaled ambitions. Victory took them into fourth place - and that's qualification for the Champions' League, never mind Europe - with goals from players whose scoring has been as barren as this ground was a decade ago. The expansion will see the stadium rise to a 40,000 capacity - making it London's second biggest - although it has hardly been a fortress of late. They announced plans yesterday to add more tiers to the stands at The Valley - but it is Charlton Athletic's league position which is proving vertiginous. "It gave Mendieta and Zenden a bit more freedom and all in all it was a good performance."We have had six wins in the last nine games," he added, "and we can start looking forward from here."Aston Villa 0 Middlesbrough 2 Zenden 30, Ricketts pen 49Half-time: 0-1 Attendance: 29,898.
