Charlton Athletic 1 Scunthorpe United 1

CHARLTON raised the curtain on the new season but not the expectation as they were held by Division 1 champions Scunthorpe at The Valley on Saturday.

Marcus Bent's 100th career goal looked set to earn the Addicks maximum points when he scored from close range in the 62nd minute.

Referee Trevor Kettle at first ruled it out but changed his mind after consulting an assistant.

Scunthorpe, who had played on the backfoot for most of the match, stunned Charlton with a 69th minute equaliser when central defender Izzy Iriekpen advanced unchallenged to head home Kevin Hurst's corner.

Manager Alan Pardew, who paraded five new signings, was not too downhearted afterwards.

"I'm disappointed with the result but not the performance," he said.

"Defensively we can do better but offensively we caused them a lot of problems.

"We knew from the outset that teams would come here, sit back and invite us to defend while attempting to hit us on the break."

Charlton: Weaver; Moutaoukil, McCarthy, Bougherra, Thatcher; Sam, Semedo, Ambrose, Reid; Todorov (McLeod 65), Bent(Iwelumo 74).
Subs Not Used: Randolph, Sinclair, Fortune.
Attendance: 23,151.

* Keep up to date with all the news from The Valley every week in the Bexley Extra.