Charlton 2 - 1 Leyton Orient

Leyton Orient’s FA Cup dreams came to an end in the cruelest of ways when Jay Bothroyd came off the bench to hit home a deflected winner in injury time to round off an exciting match and provide Charlton with their first FA Cup win against their east London neighbors.

The visitors were without Craig Easton and Jabo Ibehre (calf injury and suspension respectively), the two outstanding players in their victory over Fulham in the previous round, but they came with a game plan to unsettle Charlton from the start and urged on by 6,000 visiting fans they started the brightest.

However, after seven minutes they were behind after captain John Mackie needlessly fouled Darren Bent by the touchline. Darren Ambrose swung in the resulting free-kick and an unmarked Jonathan Fortune ran through a static defense to open the scoring with a diving header.

The home side settled and would have put this game beyond doubt in the opening 15 minutes but for poor finishing from Shaun Bartlett and Bent.

For all Orient’s efforts they produced little throughout the first half with Hermann Hreidarsson, imperious in defense, snuffing out all the visitors’ attacks as quickly as they began.

Charlton were guilty of over-elaboration though, at times trying to pass the ball into the net rather than break Orient’s spirit by rattling up a cricket score. Ambrose and Bryan Hughes also missed the target whenwell placed to score.

The visitors rallied towards the break and on the stroke of half-time it was their turn to show their profligacy in front of goal when Lee Steele set up two glorious chances for the equaliser.

First he found Gary Alexander on the edge of the box with an exquisite chested pass only to see the ball sliced high over. Then, just a minute later , Steele scampered to the byline and cut back the ball perfectly for the late run of Joe Keith, but his shot hit the bar and went over. Martin Ling’s half-time speech must have been sterling stuff as his Orient side started the second half inspired.

Their rousing start was rewarded eight minutes into the second half when the impressive Steele equalized with a goal that will give Thomas Myhre, the Charlton goalkeeper, many a sleepless night.

Daryl McMahon started the move on the left wing with an intelligent ball to Keith to smartly flick into the path of Steele who lashed a shot through Myhre and the ball crept across the line.

Curbishley responded with a triple substitution, introducing Jerome Thomas, Jay Bothroyd and Alexei Smertin for Radostin Kishishev, Shaun Bartlett and Bryan Hughes.

The substitutions were inspired, Thomas in particular adding flair to the game and he almost scored minutes after his introduction only to be denied by an excellent save by the overworked Glyn Garner.

The home side continued to turn the screw but the game looked to be heading for an entertaining draw when Bothroyd put Charlton into the next round. The on-loan striker hit a powerful free-kick under the Orient wall and the slightest of deflections was enough to steer the ball over the helpless Garner.