CHARLTON have suffered an early season setback with the loss of influential captain Matt Holland for Saturday’s opening Barclaycard Premier League home game against Portsmouth.

The midfielder sustained damaged ankle ligaments after five minutes of Saturday’s 4-1 defeat at Bolton and was withdrawn from the Republic of Ireland squad for Wednesday’s international against Bulgaria.

He saw a specialist on Tuesday when a scan revealed there was no serious damage. Holland, who was ever-present last season, is expected to be fit for the visit of Aston Villa on August 25.

Newcomer Bryan Hughes from Birmingham, who replaced him at Bolton, is likely to be handed a home debut by manager Alan Curbishley along with fellow new signings Dennis Rommedahl, Danny Murphy and Francis Jeffers.

“We never got going at Bolton where our back four were swamped and I’ll be looking for a big improvement against Portsmouth on Saturday,” said Curbishley, whose side bounced back from an opening day defeat against Manchester City last season to thrash Wolves 4-0.