Town manager Kieran McKenna says the Blues will have to show a lot of character and take some big steps forward as they go into a run of three away games in six days, starting at Charlton Athletic on Wednesday night, which will define their season.

The Blues moved down to third in the Championship table following Millwall's 3-1 Tuesday night win at Stoke, which put the Lions three points ahead but with Town having two games in hand.

Southampton were held to a 2-2 draw at St Mary's, which sees them level on points with Town, but behind on goal difference, however, again having played two more games than the Blues.

Middlesbrough, who host long-relegated Sheffield Wednesday this evening, are fifth, three points behind Town having played one match more.

Following the visit to the Valley, Kieran McKenna’s men travel to 20th-placed West Brom on Saturday, before a trip to Southampton next Tuesday for what will almost certainly be a massive six-pointer for two of last year’s relegated Premier League sides.

Nine points from those games and the final-day home match against QPR would guarantee promotion regardless of the other contenders’ results.

Charlton are 19th going in to the midweek fixtures, three places and six points off the bottom three.

They are without a win in six since beating Boro 1-0 at the Riverside in early March, three defeats and three draws, the most recent a 1-1 stalemate with bottom side Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on Saturday.

Only five teams in the Championship have poorer home records than the Addicks, who have picked up 28 points from eight wins, four draws and nine defeats this season.

Just two sides in the division have scored fewer home goals than Charlton’s total of 20, but only seven have conceded fewer on their own turf than the 23 they have shipped at the Valley.

Having lost 2-0 at Portsmouth, another side fighting for survival towards the bottom of the table a week ago, McKenna knows the Addicks can’t be taken lightly, even more so as they won 3-0 at Portman Road in October, the Blues’ only home defeat during 2025/26.

“It’s a team who beat us earlier in the season, so we know what they’re capable of,” McKenna said, speaking after Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Middlesbrough.

“And another game where we’re going to have to go away to a team who are probably looking for that one last result to keep them over the dotted line and we know the challenges that that will bring. It’s up to us to be ready for that and go and take that on.”

Looking back at the defeat to the South Londoners, all three goals coming in a 12-minute spell early in the second half, the Blues having dominated the first without scoring, McKenna says it was a significant evening in the squad’s development following the summer changes of personnel.

“Maybe we’ll reflect on it a little bit more at the end of the season, but it was an important game for us because I thought we played really, really well in the game up until probably the point of their first goal and then we didn’t have the resilience to deal with the setback at that point,” he recalled.

“And that, I’ve said all along, was always going to be a big, big challenge for a new group of players, especially coming into this club at this time with the journey of the last few years.

“And building that resilience is something that we’ve had to chip away at over the course of the season and we’re nowhere near complete yet as a team, but I think we’ve made some steps on it, but I believe we’ve still got some big steps to go.

“A different stage of the season now. We know they’re a team that can threaten us, we know where we’re at as a team and my real feeling is that over the six days we’re going to have to show a huge amount of character and take some big steps forward if we want to be successful.”

Town’s away form, the 10th best in the division, hasn’t matched their displays at home, the loss at Fratton Park last week their seventh defeat on the road this season.

“We’ve spoken about it lots, we love playing here and our home record has always been strong,” McKenna said when asked about the Blues’ away frustrations. “I’ve said it lots of times, away games are obviously more difficult but also when you’re a group coming together in a season, it’s probably going to be more difficult.

“I think we’ve had periods where we’ve had some good away results and we’ve won away against the team [Coventry City] who are going to win the league this year.

“But on the other hand, there have been probably too many away games that have got away from us in short spells and we know about those and we speak about those moments internally.

“I think this is a great opportunity for us, to have three away games in six days. I think we’ve shown a lot of things over the course of the season, but to go and get the results we’re going to need in those six days is probably going to take another step.

“As I say, I think the group has taken steps forward this year and I think we’ll probably have to take another one.

“Going away from home is tough, especially when you’re playing against teams with big motivation as well.

“We know we’re going to come under pressure and have to stand up to momentum and the crowd and things like that, and we’ve done it at times this year, but other times we’ve let it get away from us. A great opportunity now in the next week to go and stand really strong against it.”

Quizzed on whether this six-day period will see him utilise the full extent of his squad, McKenna said: “Let’s see. At this stage of the season, you’re not rotating for fun, but physically it’s a big test and we have players who want to come in and make an impact, so we’ll try and make the right decisions on that.

“But it’s not a stage of the season for being tired or having niggles, everybody has to get ready to go again and we make decisions on what we think is right for the next game.”

The Northern Irishman says it’s not a time for rotation for the sake of rotating: “That’s it really. We’ve had a couple of periods in the season where you have to look at it a little bit more that way. This might be the third period where we’ve had seven games in 21 days with the postponements. The Championship is like that anyway, but our season has been even more like that.

“When you’re going into eight games, as our schedule was [from the Birmingham game onwards], we’re going to need different people to step up.

“And at the same time, it’s a fine balance because you want players in a rhythm and feeling the importance of the games and enjoying that situation.

“It’s a fine balance to get and we’ll try and make the right decisions for the next game and the games after that.”

McKenna hopes winger Wes Burns could be back in the squad having suffered a setback on his recovery from the calf problem he picked up in the Sheffield Wednesday game six weeks ago: “Not impossible, we’ll see how he is over the next few days.”

The Town boss says what will be a large away following can play their part at a ground which has often been a happy hunting ground for the Blues, although while having one or two days remembered for other reasons, not least the 4-4 draw in League One when his side somehow managed to draw despite being 4-2 up in injury time.

“They can, but I think the away fans have been brilliant this year,” he said. “They’ve never given us anything but that, but we’re happy to have the shorter travel, we’re happy for them to have the shorter travel.

“There have been some pretty memorable games and moments down there for positive and negative reasons in the last few years for the club, so I think it’s a nice for us to go on Wednesday, all together knowing that it’s a massive game for them, they’re going to be desperate for the result.

“But going there as a group, staff, supporters, all together to try and fight for what we want. I think it’s a nice place to go and do it.”

The Team

McKenna will probably make the usual changes of personnel in attacking areas while otherwise sticking with Sunday’s side.

Christian Walton will be in goal behind a back four of Darnell Furlong, skipper Dara O’Shea, Jacob Greaves and Leif Davis.

Azor Matusiwa will be in midfield with Dan Neil probably coming in for Jack Taylor, who started against Boro.

Ahead of them, McKenna could bring back in Ben Johnson, Anis Mehmeti and Jack Clarke from the start with Kasey McAteer, Marcelino Nunez and Jaden Philogene dropping to the bench. George Hirst may well return as the number nine for Ivan Azon.

The Opposition

Charlton boss Nathan Jones was delighted with his team’s win at Portman Road, particularly as he believes Town are among the division’s top sides.

“We were obviously pleased with the result and the performance on the day - it's a very tough place to go,” he said.

“For me, they're one of the two or three best teams in the league, hence their league position. 

“It’ll be a fresh game and it’s obviously at the Valley, so we’re happy about that. It’s a game we're looking forward to.

“Testing yourselves against these teams is what we wanted to do. We know it’s going to be a very difficult game, but what a lovely game underneath the lights at the Valley.”

Centre-halves Reece Burke and Collins Sichenje returned from injury against the Owls, but right-back Kayne Ramsay missed out with a hamstring issue.

“They’ve both come back in and it’s timely really with us losing Kayne and obviously Harry Clarke not being available [against his parent club],” Jones added. “It's good to have Collins and Burkey back.

“We’re taking it day-by-day with Kayne. Obviously we’d give it a little bit more time, but with there only being three games left we’ll take more risks than we probably need to to get him back.”

History

The Blues just have the edge historically, winning 25 games (21 in the league), Charlton 21 (18) and with 13 (12) ending in draws.

Prior to the game at Portman Road earlier in the season, Town had scored at least four goals in their previous three matches against the Addicks and have lost only one of their last seven at the Valley, the 2-0 reverse under caretaker-manager John McGreal in December 2021. Between December 2012 and November 2015 they won four in a row under Mick McCarthy.

In October, the Blues suffered their only Portman Road defeat this season and their biggest home Championship loss since April 2018 as newly promoted Charlton netted three times in the second half to record a shock 3-0 victory.

The home side had been the better side in the first half, albeit with the visitors having two of the period’s three best chances, but the Blues fell apart in the second after Sonny Carey had given the Addicks the lead on 52 with Macaulay Gillesphey and Miles Leaburn adding goals on 55 and 64 to inflict Town’s biggest Championship loss on their own turf since the 4-0 defeat to Aston Villa more than seven years previously.

Unusually for sides in the same division, Town and the Addicks faced one another in pre-season at the JobServe Community Stadium in Colchester in July last year when Clarke and Ali Al-Hamadi were on target as the Blues won their penultimate friendly 2-1.

Town were on top throughout with all the goals coming in the second half, while Ashley Young made his first appearance for the club as a sub alongside Omari Hutchinson, playing what proved to be his final game for the club.

The teams last met at the Valley in October 2022 in League One when the Blues twice let two-goal leads slip in a bizarre, topsy-turvy game which ended 4-4 with four goals in injury time.

George Edmundson and Tyreece John-Jules put the Blues 2-0 in front but the Addicks hit back through Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and Albie Morgan.

However, in injury time, Town restored their two-goal advantage through Freddie Ladapo and skipper Sam Morsy but Terell Thomas and George Dobson netted in the sixth and ninth minutes of additional time to claim an astonishing point for the home side.

Familiar Faces

Blues third-choice keeper David Button spent one season at Charlton, 2012/13, making six starts.

Blues right-back Harry Clarke is on loan with the Addicks and has made 15 starts and two sub appearances since joining them in January. The 25-year-old is ineligible for Wednesday’s game.

Former Town striker Gassan Ahadme joined Charlton from Town in the summer of 2024 but is currently on loan at Stevenage.

Officials

Wednesday’s referee is former Premier League official Bobby Madley, who has shown 77 yellow cards and four red in 20 games so far this season, his assistants Alistair Nelson and Andrew Dallison, and the fourth official James Bell.

West Yorkshire-based Madley left his top flight role in August 2018 after making and texting a video which made fun of a disabled person which was then made known to his employers.

He returned to refereeing in this country in 2020 having apologised and following a spell officiating in the lower leagues in Norway.

Madley’s most recent Town game was the 1-1 home draw with Southampton at Portman Road in August in which he booked Matusiwa, Taylor and two of the visitors.

In August 2023 he was in charge of the 4-3 defeat to Leeds United at Portman Road in which he booked Sam Morsy, Luke Woolfenden, Massimo Luongo and three of the visitors.

His previous two Blues matches were both defeats to Bolton Wanderers. In January 2021, he was the man in the middle for the Blues’ 2-0 loss in Lancashire, boss McKenna’s first defeat after taking over as manager. Burns, Walton and James Norwood were among five players cautioned.

Prior to that, Madley was in charge of the 5-2 loss to Bolton in September 2021 in which he booked Kane Vincent-Young, against whom he also correctly awarded the Trotters a penalty, and two of the visitors.

Before that, he took control of the 2-1 win at Accrington Stanley in March of the same year, the day Paul Cook took charge as Blues boss with the new manager watching from the stands.

Madley booked James Wilson and three home players as well as showing Seamus Conneely a later-rescinded straight red card in the 16th minute for a foul on Troy Parrott in the penalty area. The resultant spot-kick taken by Norwood was saved.

He also refereed the 0-0 draw at Oxford United in December 2020 in which he booked Andre Dozzell.

Before that he officiated in the 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday in April 2016 in which he yellow-carded Luke Chambers, Kevin Bru, Brett Pitman and one Owl.

Madley was also in charge of the 1-1 draw at AFC Bournemouth in April 2015 in which he again booked Chambers and one home player.

His only other Blues match was the 1-0 home victory over Blackpool in February 2013 in which he cautioned only Guirane N’Daw.

Squad From

Walton, Palmer, Button, Furlong, Davis, Johnson, O’Shea (c), Kipre, Greaves, Baggott, Matusiwa, Cajuste, Neil, Taylor, Clarke, Philogene, Nunez, Burns, Walle Egeli, McAteer, Mehmeti, Akpom, Hirst, Azon.

Photo: TWTD