Charlton Athletic vs Queens Park Rangers; Sky Bet Championship
Charlton Athletic vs Queens Park Rangers. Sky Bet Championship.
The Valley.
Charlton 0-0 QPR: Hoops miss chance to move top of Championship following goalless draw at The Valley
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Charlton and QPR; the visitors had an opportunity to move top of the table but were forced to settle for a point
Wednesday 9 September 2026 23:17, UK
QPR missed the chance to go top of the Championship table as they were held to a 0-0 draw at Charlton.
The R's knew a third straight away victory would take them to the summit but they were unable to produce a clinical finish at The Valley to back up some impressive approach play.
Both sides were looking to bounce back from their first league losses of the season at the weekend.
- As it happened | Teams | Stats
- Watch FREE Championship highlights | Latest EFL news and rumours
- Not got Sky? Latest Sky Sports deals or stream EFL games with no contract📺
There was a big call by the officials on 39 minutes as Tyreece Campbell finished smartly from Oliver Skipp's incisive through pass. The goal was ruled offside but it looked a razor-fine decision whether the in-form attacker was just behind R's centre-back Ronnie Edwards at the key moment the ball was released by Leicester loanee Skipp, making his home debut.
"We scored the only goal of the game. I am sick of it. On the weekend, I had to put up with a performance from an individual that was beyond the realm of belief," Charlton boss Nathan Jones told Sky Sports after the game.
"Tonight, he had one decision to make and he gave offside. The goal is a great goal and a great counter-attack. It is onside and has cost us three points. The arrogance of the linesman is mental. He has looked at me like I have volleyed his cat."
The only effort on target came from a cheeky backheel finish by Rumarn Burrell from Vale's low cross but Okonkwo dropped to claim cleanly.
Charlton finished the half strongly with QPR captain Jimmy Dunne heading away a dangerous Campbell cross and referee Tom Nield ignored appeals for a penalty when Ivan Mesik went down under an awkward challenge by Cirkin.
QPR continued to dictate possession once the action resumed, despite yet another injury, captain Jimmy Dunne going off in the 47th minute.
Charlton centre-back Tyler Bindon was indebted to Okonkwo for a fine stop with his legs from Paul Smyth in the 62nd minute after losing the ball in a dangerous area - it proved to be the clearest scoring chance of the evening.
A sliding Burrell just failed to make a connection on substitute Amadou Mbengue's cross from six yards out as Charlton continued to struggle to get any kind of foothold in the contest.
There were fresh and fruitless spot-kick appeals from the hosts for a potential handball by Mbengue from a Rankin-Costello shot while Cirkin evaded any punishment for pulling back Karlan Grant to halt a dangerous home attack.
The managers
Charlton boss Nathan Jones speaking to Sky Sports:
"We scored the only goal of the game. I am sick of it. On the weekend, I had to put up with a performance from an individual that was beyond the realm of belief.
"Tonight, he had one decision to make and he gave offside. The goal is a great goal and a great counter-attack. It is onside and has cost us three points. The arrogance of the linesman is mental. He has looked at me like I have volleyed his cat.
"He is looking at me as if I have done something; he has made the biggest error of the night and has cost us the game. Our goalkeeper has had to make one save and we scored the one goal.
"That is the difference, I am proud of my team and it was a tough game."
QPR boss Julien Stephan:
"We were very, very dominant throughout the game - both halves.
"We had a lot of control and a lot of possession. But in the last 20 metres we didn't create enough big, big chances - even if we had a big one with Smythy in the second half.
"It is a mix of feelings after this game. I'm very satisfied with the way we played and the control we had, even if we are missing probably seven, eight or nine players - we kept our ability to be dominant.
"It is not an easy place here, I don't remember the last time that a team came here and was so dominant like this against Charlton. We didn't concede anything and that is a good sign.
"We know we have to improve a lot in the last third. We have to work on our patterns and continue to develop them, but we also need to find some players able to win some one-v-ones.
"I think we did well today. We collect a point, it's probably not enough based on the domination we had, but it is one more. If we are very disappointed to be third or fourth it is a good sign."
