BLACKBURN Rovers suffered more away day misery in a city that is fast becoming a graveyard for their ambitions of securing a top 10 Premiership finish.

When Mark Hughes' side last visited the capital in late October, West Ham United ended one of the worst runs in their history by securing a vital victory in their battle to beat the drop.

Last night, relegation-haunted Charlton Athletic inflicted a similar wound, but this one was even harder to take as Talal El Karkouri grabbed the winner with virtually the last kick of the match.

For 90 minutes, Rovers had worked hard to contain a side that was devoid of confidence and propping up the rest of the Premier League.

But just when it looked like Brad Friedel and his defensive charges had done enough to escape from The Valley with a point, up popped El Karkouri, who curled home a devastating free kick deep into injury time to leave the Rovers camp stunned.

Manager Mark Hughes struggled to contain his anger after seeing a point slip agonisingly through his grasp in such dramatic circumstances.

"We're very disappointed to lose the game at the end like that," said the Rovers boss.

"I felt it was a game where neither side really deserved to take the three points, and it looked as though it had a draw written all over it.

"But at the end, when we should have been seeing the game out and making sure we took something, we became a little bit nave when we threw the ball into their box, they then got a break, we conceded the free kick, and they scored from it."

In truth, Rovers would have been fortunate to claim a point anyway after another below-par away performance.

Despite Charlton's lowly league position, they called most of the shots here, and but for the brilliance of Friedel, who played like a sweeper at times, they would have had the points in the bag long before El Karkouri's late intervention.

Rovers began the evening looking for a fifth straight victory over Charlton and the formbook certainly pointed to an away win, even though the visitors had managed that feat only once on their travels all season in the Premiership prior to this encounter.

Hughes decided to keep faith with the side that defeated Fulham on Saturday, which was somewhat surprising as it meant Tugay, who was available again after suspension, had to settle for a place amongst the substitutes.

Charlton manager Les Reed, meanwhile, resisted the temptation to start with Marcus Bent up front against his former club, even though the striker was ominously looking for his 100th career goal.

And Rovers started brightly enough.

Pedersen twice got in on the left in the opening 10 minutes, but on each occasion he over-hit his cross, much to the obvious frustration of Hughes and his coaching staff.

Nevertheless, with Charlton looking vulnerable down the flanks, the Norwegian could still have helped himself to a couple of goals during those early skirmishes.

Only a last-ditch block from Hermann Hreidarsson prevented the Rovers winger from breaking the deadlock with a low drive, then moments later he planted a firm header into the side-netting.

Slowly but surely, though, the Addicks started to ask a few questions of their own as they looked to utilise the pace of Darren Bent and his speedy side-kick Lloyd Sam, who was making his Premiership debut.

Twice, Friedel had to rush out and clear the danger as Bent threatened to fasten onto through balls.

Radostin Kishishev also went close with a speculative effort that curled wide of the far post, then Sam blazed wastefully over from 10 yards out following Bent's clever cut-back.

Charlton fans also bayed for a penalty when Sam sank to his knees after a challenge by Lucas Neill, but Chris Foy, the referee at the centre of the Ronaldo diving storm at the weekend, resisted calls to point to the spot.

After soaking up that pressure, Rovers then constructed the best move of the half seconds before the interval.

Benni McCarthy's back-heel released Pedersen on the left and for once the winger delivered the perfect cross to the near post, where Shabani Nonda had made a darting run, but keeper Scott Carson reacted brilliantly to beat away the African's volley.

Sensing the need to inject more verve into the team going forward, Hughes made a bold double substitution at the start of the second half, Tugay and Paul Gallagher replacing Pedersen and the disappointing David Bentley, but as Rovers readjusted, Charlton almost snatched the lead.

Bent looked a certain scorer when Sam delivered an inviting cross into the six-yard box, but Friedel dived bravely at the striker's feet and made a crucial block.

As the action ebbed and flowed, another chance went begging at the opposite end, McCarthy blasting wide with only Carson to beat. It began to feel like it wasn't going to be Rovers' night.

Hughes was forced into making another substitution in the 62nd minute when Brett Emerton pulled up sharply with what looked like a hamstring injury.

From that point onwards, Charlton looked the most likely winners.

Friedel showed excellent awareness again to thwart Bent as he sprung Rovers' offside trap.

But just when it looked as though Rovers had earned a point, El Karkouri then snatched all three at the death.

Stephane Henchoz conceded a free kick on the edge of his own box after a blatant body check on Marcus Bent, and El Karkouri did the rest, curling a shot round the wall and inside Friedel's left-hand post, with the American rooted to the spot.

Talk about a sucker punch.

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