Pre-season favourites to bounce back into the Premier League and having been as high as second back in November, Charlton yesterday bowed out of the promotion race with little more than a whimper. They barely created a chance against a team who probably now look the more likely to get back into the top tier of English football before they do. The pill for Charlton fans was even more bitter to swallow because their chance of a playoff place was ended yesterday when they lost sight of fierce rivals Crystal Palace.

“Our record against the top 10 sides is the best in the Championship, but when we should have won, we didn’t,” Charlton manager Alan Pardew said afterwards. “There were some flaws in this side that we didn’t correct in the last window and we will need to correct in the next window.”

The transfer of their captain Andy Reid in January also didn’t help, while the gamble of bringing in some loan signings backfired, but Pardew will be given time to get it right. “I know the responsibility I have of trying to get this club back to the Premiership. We have one more parachute payment to go and it is going to be essential to get it right.”

Pardew’s budget will probably still look like small change compared with what Luigi De Canio will have to play with, though yesterday QPR’s Italian manager was adamant that he wanted to build his success on the back of the club’s youth system. He will surely also want to rely at least initially on a journeyman of the lower leagues, Gavin Mahon, who ran this game yesterday. Mahon set up the winner on 15 minutes, though Charlton centre-half Paddy McCarthy slipped as Dexter Blackstock got the ball in the box and was able to turn easily to score from 10 yards.

Blackstock might have had a couple more and 17-year-old Angelo Balanta was also profligate, but an insipid Charlton side hardly created a chance that might have punished them.

Star man: Gavin Mahon (QPR)

Player ratings: QPR: Camp 6, Connolly 6, Stewart 6, Hall 5 (Mancienne 33min, 7), Delaney 6, Ainsworth 6 (Buzsaky 51min, 5), Rowlands 6, Mahon 8, Ephraim 6 (Leigertwood 79min), Balanta 6, Blackstock 6

Charlton: Weaver 6, Halford 5, McCarthy 5, Bougherra 7, Thatcher 6, Zhi 5 (Semedo 70min), Holland 7, Cook 5, Ambrose 5, Gray 5 (Iwelumo 60min), Lita 5

Scorer: QPR: Blackstock 15
Referee: T Kettle
Attendance: 17,035