Self-inflicted defensive mistakes consigned Charlton to defeat against Blackburn Rovers at The Valley on Saturday afternoon.

Two costly errors in the space of three minutes early in the first half led to goals by Jordan Rhodes and Craig Conway.

A spirited second-half fightback, started by Yoni Buyens’ penalty, gave the Addicks hope but this was quickly dashed by Rhodes’ second goal, 20 minutes from time.

Charlton had won five of their last six games and Blackburn had only lost one of their last nine so both sets of fans were confident of getting something from the fixture.

This is the third meeting for the sides this season and Rovers have now triumphed in all three - Rhodes scoring his second brace of the season against the Addicks.

Blackburn took the lead in the 15th minute after catching the Charlton defence napping.

A quick throw from Ben Marshall was latched onto by Rhodes who had a clear run on Stephen Henderson. One-on-one he stroked it off the right post and into the net.

Another shambolic piece of defending gave Blackburn their second in the 18th minute.

Roger Johnson was caught in possession by Conway and he was able to side foot it past the helpless Henderson in the Charlton goal.

Igor Vetokele had the best chance of the half to pull one back for the Addicks in the 20th minute but blazed his shot well over the Blackburn goal.

The striker was played in by Tony Watt and from 10 yards could not hit the target.

Long range shots from Watt and Johann Gudmundson also failed to test Jason Steele in the Blackburn goal.

The first half was one to forget for the Charlton defence. Several times they put themselves under unnecessary pressure and it nearly cost them a third in the 42nd minute when Tal Ben Haim gave away a needless free-kick on the left by-line.

Tom Cairney swung in a cross and Chris Brown's free header from six yards hit his own player on the back of the head and went wide.

After the break, Charlton halved the deficit with a penalty in the 55th minute.

Igor Vetokele was brought down by Steele after the Angolan striker got to the ball first from a ball over the top from Watt. Buyens sent the keeper the wrong way and passed it into the bottom right corner.

Vetokele nearly scored the equaliser four minutes later when his header couldn’t quite squeeze under the crossbar. Morgan Fox put in the cross after a run down the right and the striker beat Alex Baptiste in the air, only for his header to loop over Steele but bounce back off the bar.

Watt then squandered a golden opportunity in the 66th minute to complete the comeback by putting his shot the wrong side of the post after being sent through one-on-one byt Vetokele.

Henderson kept Charlton in the game in the 75th minute, pulling off a fantastic one-handed save from Tom Cairney's 20-yard effort.

But three minutes later Jordan Rhodes scored his second of the game to put the result beyond doubt, heading past the stranded Henderson.

A Blackburn shot was blocked but then looped into the path of Rhodes who was the only one alert to the situation. He calmly headed into the bottom corner to seal the victory.

Charlton stay 12th position in the Championship on 48 points with seven games left.

Charlton: Henderson, Solly, Johnson, Ben Haim, Fox, Gudmundsson, Buyens (Church 83mins), Cousins, Bulot (Eagles 73mins), Vetokele, Watt. Subs not used: Dmitrovic, Wilson, Gomez, Bikey-Amougou, Diarra.