Wigan Athletic 3 Charlton Athletic 0

Last updated : 18 December 2005 By Footymad Previewer
Henri Camara celebrates
The Senegal international - due to leave for African Nations Cup duty in the New Year - ended a four-match scoring drought in style to halt the Latics' slide down the table.

And his triple strike doubled his goal tally for the season to six.

After a tough time on the road, Wigan eased to victory against a disappointing and well below-par Charlton side.

After defeats from an unenviable fixture list of matches against Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United – the last three all away from home - Wigan were badly in need of a confidence boost.

Manager Paul Jewell sprang a surprise with a recall for Scottish winger Gary Teale while skipper Arjan de Zeeuw was back after a two-match injury absence.

Charlton, back to winning ways last week with a 2-0 success over Sunderland which ended a six-match losing streak, were missing Jay Bothroyd after his mystery black-out. But 11-goal Darren Bent was fit despite a slight hamstring strain earlier in the week.

Bent in fact had the first chance of the game racing onto a great ball from Radostin Kishishev but his left-foot shot lacked the power to trouble Mike Pollitt.

Wigan took the lead after nine minutes when Lee McCulloch latched onto a throw-in from Leighton Baines and hammered a shot in on the turn. With Dean Kiely beaten, it thundered against the crossbar, and Camara - who had earlier missed the target with a header - swooped on it, firing home off Chris Powell who was stationed on the line.

A couple of minutes later, the Latics could have had a second when Camara's pace again caught out the Charlton defence. But as he tried to find the best angle for the shot, Chris Perry came to the rescue, and got the ball clear.

Another Wigan chance went begging after more magic from Camara created the opportunity but both Jimmy Bullard and McCulloch failed to connect with the cross inside the six-yard box, and Hermann Hreidarsson cleared the danger.

Charlton were denied an equaliser after Darren Ambrose lobbed the ball into Bent's path, and his first-time right-foot shot was superbly beaten out by the alert Pollitt.

Henri Camara is congratulated by Paul Jewell
But the Addicks were coming under intense pressure at the other end, and Kiely did well diving to his left to keep out a screamer from Bullard. Keeper Kiely was almost embarrassed after hitting a poor clearance to Jason Roberts but fortunately he had recovered his ground to prevent any damage when the shot came in.

Then Kiely kept out another Camara effort, making a one handed stop, and Perry mopped up before Roberts could tuck away the follow-up.

Referee Atkinson was on the spot to rule out any appeal for a penalty when Bent went down in the box, replays showing no contact with keeper.

Then Wigan finally got the second goal they had been threatening. Roberts flicked on the pass from skipper De Zeeuw, and lightning-fast Camara nipped in smartly between Hreidarsson and Kiely to poke it into the right corner - the finger of blame being pointed at the defender for failing to take decisive action to deal with the situation.

Camara completed his hat-trick by virtue of sheer persistence inside the six-yard area. He got a slice of luck too when the ball bounced off the luckless Perry's chest, and he tapped it into the net.

Charlton did get the ball in the net - but their travelling fans were denied a consolation goal as Bent was clearly offside.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Henri Camara (Wigan) - Terrorised the Charlton defence with his pace and trickery - and showed his finishing power with a memorable hat-trick.