New manager, same old problems. This was not the start that debutant Preston North End boss Alan Irvine would have wanted.

The former Everton assistant now sees himself in charge of a Championship team deep in relegation trouble after this narrowest of defeats. His new team has not won since the end of October but at least there are mitigating factors here.

He has had little time to get to know his new recruits and left team selection to his backroom staff. His first opponents were also a Charlton team hotly tipped for an immediate return to the Premier League and now in second place.

This was their fourth win on the trot and their fourth consecutive clean sheet. It is a sign of just how badly it has all gone wrong at Deepdale this season, with the new manager already talking about Championship survival as the immediate target.

For a team that missed out on a playoff spot by a solitary point it shows just how far they have slipped down the slope.

Irvine has labelled 53 points as being the safety zone and considering they started this match with only 15, there is clearly a long way to go.

“It’s a big job initially to get the team out of the position they are in at the moment,” admitted Irvine who took the job after more than five years at Goodison Park.

“I believe that the target is somewhere in the region of 53 points and that means that we have got to get another 38 points from the remaining 30 games. There is a squad that is capable of being much higher in the league.”

The players, though, were out to impress their new boss right from the start and it made for an entertaining first period with both side having a share of the opportunities.

Chinese international Zheng Zhi went close with a header for the visitors and at the other end, Andy Carroll, on loan from Newcastle United, narrowly failed to get his outstretched leg on the end of Chris Sedgwick’s knowndown.

Indeed, Irvine and Charlton manager Alan Pardew, teammates at Crystal Palace in the late 1980s, would have looked on in admiration at the positive approach of their respective sides.

Near the interval Preston may have taken the lead if Brett Ormerod, racing upfield, had noticed the totally unmarked Paul Gallagher to his left.

His hesitation proved costly as moments later Zhi pounced on a loose Preston clearance from Jerome Thomas’s centre to fire the opener left-footed in the far corner of the net.

Preston huffed and puffed after the turnaround without ever really threatening to blow the house down. Their best moment came early into the restart. Gallagher’s long-range drive was punched away by goalkeeper Nicky Weaver, Paul McKenna was thwarted on the edge of the area and then Sedgwick blazed one over the bar.

The chances did momentarily rattle Charlton and handed sporadic impetus to the hosts, but their composure, combined with that one-goal cushion, was always an important factor. The fluidity of the second-half proceedings was rudely interrupted by both teams bringing on all their substitutes.

At least Preston showed fighting spirit throughout and it is this spirit that will be much needed in the days ahead if the present struggles are not to become a full-blown crisis. There were even an added four minutes of stoppage time to prolong the agony and prolong the attempt for a much-needed victory.

Right at the end, the misery was complete when one of the Charlton replacements, Luke Varney, sealed the points. Chris Iwelumo threaded the ball through and Varney sped away from Calum Davidson in from the left before shooting under goalkeeper Andy Lonergan.

Charlton will now be looking to build on this consistency and a real challenge to get back into the top flight. Delighted manager Pardew said: “I was very pleased with the spirit. This was a good performance. Even after those three defeats I always knew we were a team who could play well.”

And as for the new Preston manager, Pardew added: “He is a friend of mine and I wish him good luck in his career. I am sure he will get some success here.”

After starting his job with a chastening defeat, Irvine was left with the last word, however, saying: “These first few days and weeks will probably be a case of just reminding everybody where they have been not too long ago.

“Last Christmas the team was top of the league and going very well at that stage and looking like a team who could get into the Premiership. You do not become bad players or a bad team overnight.

“If they can believe in themselves again then there’s no reason why we can’t move up the table.”

Star man: Zheng Zhi (Charlton)

Player ratings. Preston: Lonergan 6, Halls 6, Davidson 6, Mawene 6, Sedgwick 6, Gallagher 8 (Whaley 64min), St Ledger 7, McKenna 6, Ormerod 5 (Agyemang 77min), Nicholls 5 (Carter 81min), Carroll 6

Charlton: Weaver 7, Mills 6, Basey 6, Sodje 6, Fortune 7, Sam 7 (Ambrose 80min), Reid 7 (Varney 87min), Thomas 7, Semedo 7 (Holland 72min), Zhi 9, Iwelumo 6