Charlton 3 Liverpool 2
Kevin Lisbie scored his first senior hat-trick for Charlton to sink Liverpool at the Valley in and end to end five goal thriller today.
Vladimir Smicer opened the scoring for the visitors after just 15 minutes when he latched on to pass from Harry Kewell and calmly lifted it over the onrushing Dean Kiely.
Lisbie however restored parity with a well taken goal after some indecision in the Liverpool defence left Jerzy Dudek exposed. The youngster struck again two minutes from halftime when Liverpool failed to clear a corner and prevent Shaun Bartlett pulling a save out of Dudek. Lisbie made not mistake from the rebound.
Michael Owen was, as ever, on hand to play his part and when Emile Heskey was held in the box by Chris Perry the 23 year-old hitman converted the spot kick with aplomb.
The game was decided five minutes from the end when Kiely found Lisbie midway inside his own half. Lisbie immediately turned and ran at Liverpool, dropping the shoulder to beat Finnan and then driving into the heart of the defence. As Sami Hyypia backed off the striker used the big Finn to obscure Dudek's view before curling it into the bottom corner from 22 yards.
full report to follow