SVEN-GÖRAN ERIKSSON MADE MANY baffling decisions when he was England head coach, but surely one of the most questionable was leaving Darren Bent out of his 2006 World Cup finals squad. The Charlton Athletic forward had been the top-scoring Englishman in the Barclays Premiership last season, with 18 goals, playing as a lone striker for a team that often struggled to create openings for him.

Undaunted, Bent has continued where he left off in May. He has scored all but one of his team’s league goals this season, and on Saturday his sixth delivered only Charlton’s second Premiership victory of the campaign. Once again, no England-qualified striker has scored more Premiership goals.

England play Holland in a friendly on Wednesday week, and the time is surely right for Steve McClaren, Eriksson’s successor, to right one of the wrongs perpetrated by his predecessor.

Iain Dowie, the Charlton manager, hopes that Bent gains the international recognition he deserves, even if it might risk losing his most valuable player to injury. “That’s a doomsday scenario,” Dowie said. “I was fortunate enough to play for Northern Ireland, and I would never stop anyone going away to an international. He deserves it.”

Bent’s goal against Manchester City was a classic poacher’s strike. Surrounded by three defenders as Jerome Thomas crossed from the left after 27 minutes, by the time the ball arrived on the six-yard line he had found the space he needed to nod the ball past Nicky Weaver. He would have scored again on the hour but for Micah Richards deflecting his header over the crossbar, and he nearly created a second for Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in stoppage time.

That would have been especially hard on City, who deserved better than a fifth league defeat in six away matches. Charlton have not conceded a goal in three games, but keeping Saturday’s sheet clean required three outstanding saves from Scott Carson, the goalkeeper.

“On another day we probably win the game 2 or 3-1, but when you tie it onto a poor run of form away from home, you’re very disappointed,” Stuart Pearce, the City manager, said. “It’s important for us to get something on the road sooner rather than later because we’re going to be forever having massive cup finals and pressure games when we come back home.”

Bent chose not to speak afterwards, rushing away to attend his girlfriend’s birthday party, and who can blame him? His scoring record has done all the talking that is necessary. He must hope that McClaren has been listening.