Charlton Athletic captain Jason Pearce has offered an apology to the travelling supporters after the Addicks went down 1-0 to Middlesbrough on Saturday at the Riverside Stadium.

The SE7 side conceded inside the first minute of the contest, with Boro's George Saville slotting home from inside the six-yard box to inflict an early blow to Lee Bowyer's side.

The Addicks were not able to recover from the goal over the course of the match, and suffered their third successive defeat.

32-year-old Pearce was quick to speak to the fans on behalf of the squad after another poor performance, which extended Charlton's run without a league win to eight games.

Speaking to London News Online, the Charlton skipper said the players were to blame for the lacklustre performance, as he addressed the 500 visiting fans that made the 516-mile round trip to Teesside.

“On behalf of the players, I thank the fans that travelled up here and apologise for the performance,” he said.

Charlton have a chance to redeem themselves against Huddersfield on Tuesday evening at The Valley, and Pearce hopes that the squad can turn their fortunes around.

“It obviously wasn’t good enough and they’ve travelled a long away to watch us and support us. We’ll do our best as a team and as a squad to try and put that right on Tuesday [at home to Huddersfield]. We’ll keep fighting, fighting for the shirt and doing our best."

The loss sees Charlton remain in 17th place in the league, six points clear of the final relegation spot.

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The Verdict

The defeat was another poor result for Charlton to take, against a side that had won just three league games all season prior to the clash.

Lee Bowyer made it clear in his post-match comments that he was far from happy with the performance of his team, and the 42-year-old has some work to do to turn Charlton's form around.

One positive for the Addicks on Saturday was the return of Lyle Taylor after three months out with a knee injury, with the 29-year-old striker coming on as a half-time substitute.