Charlton 0 Preston 0

Charlton coach Mark Kinsella admitted for the first time that that club are already planning for life in League 1 next season.

Saturday's failure to beat promotion-minded Preston at The Valley left the club with just two wins in 29 games in the Coca-Cola Championship as the club lurched ever closer to relegation.

They are 14 points adrift of safety with seven matches remaining.

"The club is planning for next season and although mathematically we're not down yet, we're not stupid," said Kinsella, who deputised for manager Phil Parkinson at Saturday's post-match press conference.

Kinsella, the club's legendary former midfielder, added: "League 1 next year is going to be difficult for everyone at the club.

"What's important is that is that we give our supporters hope of better times in the future so they will come back in their numbers and buy season-tickets.

"But we were not satisfied with our performance against Preston and we finished disappointed that we did not create the same amount of chances that we had in recent games."

Charlton carved out the best of what little chances there were as their midfield of Zheng Zhi, Therry Racon and Jonjo Shelvey ruled the roost against a strangely subdued Preston.

Preston's Andy Lonergan was the busier of the two goalkeepers, preventing Charlton from taking a deserved 82nd minute lead when he tipped over Tresor Kandol's close range header from Shelvey's corner.

But generally there was little to rouse the crowd of 19,215, many of whom left early.

Charlton: Elliot; Butterfield(Dickson 77 mins), Hudson ( Holland 81 mins), Ward, Youga; Ambrose (Sam 46 mins), Zheng, Racon, Bailey; Shelvey; Kandol. Substitutes not used: Randolph, Burton

Attendance: 19,215