Charlton's ambitions exposed by Foé double

Charlton Athletic 2 Manchester City

What is the price worth paying for success? It is a question with which Manchester City supporters are well acquainted, but also one that has had reason to trouble Charlton Athletic during a week of celebration and reflection following the 10th anniversary of the club's return to The Valley.

Not because Charlton are in immediate danger of relegation; far from it, as their manager, Alan Curbishley, pointed out in his programme notes when bemoaning the lack of credit the club had received in the media for their recent four-match Premiership winning run, a sequence which would have been extended on Saturday were it not for Marc-Vivien Foé's late but deserved equaliser for City.

The question for Charlton is now, where do they go from here? Steady progress rather than stellar ambition has underpinned the club's rise to Premiership respectability and while Curbishley is keen to broaden their ambition, he knows that attempting the transition from survivors to contenders is a risky business, as Leicester and Ipswich have both found to their cost. On the other hand, if rumours are true that Curbishley has £7m to spend when the transfer window reopens next month, it will make him one of the market's bigger players at a time when many of the game's traditional heavyweights are feeling the pinch.

If Charlton are to press on, Curbishley needs more attacking options. Kevin Lisbie would be some striker if only he had the finishing skills to match his pace and vision. It may seem harsh to judge a player who set up both Charlton goals, having won the penalty from which Jason Euell gave the home side the lead and then laying on the second for Claus Jensen. However it was also Lisbie's point-blank miss with 20 minutes remaining, after flummoxing the City captain, Steve Howey, which proved the game's pivotal moment.

A goal then would have put Charlton 3-0 up and out of sight. As it was, two minutes later the City manager, Kevin Keegan, withdrew Howey and brought on Ali Benarbia, whose first touch of the ball enabled Foé to haul the visitors back into the match.

"Lisbie needs to score more goals," Curbishley said. "It feels more like a defeat than a draw, but all credit to City for battling back the way they did."

City were a different side with Benarbia and Eyal Berkovic in tandem and, in a breathless finish, could have taken all three points had the referee, David Pugh, not wrongly denied them a penalty when Richard Rufus tripped Nicolas Anelka. But it was Foé who caught the eye with a driving display of tackling and forward runs which deservedly improved his goal tally to three from the last two games.

"He's after the golden boot now," Keegan joked. "We've been playing him in a holding position but he's more than that, as he's shown in the last couple of games."

Foé is on loan from Lyon and Keegan must soon decide whether to make the deal permanent. "He won't come cheap," the City manager admitted, but on this evidence it could prove one of the safest investments of the season.

Goals: Euell pen (51) 1-0; C Jensen (63) 2-0; Foé (73) 2-1; Foé (87) 2-2.

Charlton Athletic (3-5-2): Kiely 5; Rufus 8, Fish 5, Rowett 4; Young 5, Parker 4, Euell 6, Kishishev 5 (C Jensen 5, h-t), Powell 6 (Konchesky, 90); Lisbie 7, Bartlett 6. Substitutes not used: Svensson, Fortune, Rachubka (gk).

Manchester City (3-5-2): Schmeichel 7; Dunne 4, Howey 4 (Benarbia 8, 72), Distin 4; Sun Jihai 5, Berkovic 7, Foé 9, Horlock 5, Tiatto 5; Anelka 6, Goater 4. Substitutes not used: N Jensen, Wiekens, Huckerby, Nash (gk).

Referee: D Pugh (Merseyside) 3.

Bookings: Charlton: Euell, Parker. Manchester City: Horlock.

Man of the match: Foé.

Attendance: 26,434.