Charlton Athletic 0 Blackburn Rovers 2

Dynamic Duff muscles in on Charlton's parade

Charlton Athletic lived up to their reputation as a community club by inviting hundreds of schoolchildren to their first Premiership match, but then neglected to produce a performance that might make them want to return.

The Valley's largest crowd for almost 25 years saw the home team unable to build on the encouraging form of recent weeks – which had brought victories over Chelsea and Tottenham – second-half goals by the double-D men, Damien Duff and David Dunn, giving Blackburn a first win in six games, to lift them above the south London side and well away from the bottom six.

The Blackburn manager Graeme Souness has made no secret of his desire to sign another striker, but it was Charlton who looked short up front, the lightweight partnership of Kevin Lisbie and Jason Euell, augmented later by Jonatan Johansson, failing to demand a single save from Brad Friedel. Savo Milosevic, who fell out with Aston Villa and ended up at Parma, is the latest forward to attract Blackburn's interest, but a possible loan fell through when the Italian club sacked their manager last week.

Yesterday, in the absence of Matt Jansen, Souness pushed Duff into attack and was as well rewarded by the bustling little Irishman as Mick McCarthy has been when employing the same tactic at international level. He took his goal well and was a livelier prospect altogether than Corrado Grabbi, the £6.75m striker who has managed only one goal all season.

There was little chance for the new partnership to shine in a dull first half, in which Charlton – opting for the luxury of an unchanged side for the third successive game – had much of the possession, but often kept the ball too close. When one of their intricate little passing moves finally brought a clear opportunity, after 39 minutes, Lisbie crossing for Graham Stuart, the captain's header from only a few yards out was directed wide.

Blackburn's closest effort for a long time came, oddly, from Euell, inadvertently meeting a corner that had been flicked on by Gary Flitcroft. The reliable Dean Kiely held that, and saved in exciting fashion from Tugay's fierce 25-yard drive. It was, nevertheless, an unexpected development when the visitors went ahead 12 minutes after half-time. Keith Gillespie latched on to a free-kick and ran at goal before finding Duff, whose clever run left him well placed to shoot in from an angle.

For Charlton, it was a day for the vigorous Matt Svensson to come on and rough up the opposing defence, but he has suffered another injury during a comeback match. Instead, they had to turn to Johansson, another ball-player, while Blackburn went for the sort of physical presence their opponents lacked by introducing Mark Hughes for the ineffectual Grabbi.

Hughes, 38 last month, was the more effective of the two as a poor game petered out. Euell put Charlton's only chance of the second half over the bar and in the fourth minute of stoppage time Gillespie set up another substitute, Dunn, to complete the Valley's misery. The overall lack of entertainment, however, was best summed up by the two women who chose to streak across the pitch – fully clothed.

Charlton Athletic 0 Blackburn Rovers 2
Duff 57, Dunn 90
Attendance: 25,857