Wigan Athletic v Charlton Athletic

CHRIS POWELL pointed to a decision by the players to call a crisis meeting as a contributing factor in Charlton arresting their slide at Sunderland’s expense.

The veteran defender, skipper Luke Young and Danny Murphy called for talks to clear the air at the club’s training ground to confront head on the problems behind a sequence of six straight defeats in which 17 goals had been conceded.

Neither manager Alan Curbishley or any of the club’s coaching staff were present as the players entered into what was described as a frank and forthright assessment of recent form.

Powell, who celebrated his 600th league appearance against the Black Cats, disclosed: "The players called the meeting because we felt the need to talk about things among ourselves after the manager made his feelings known.

"A lot was said and I felt it was a good time to have the meeting. It lasted about 20 minutes and everybody had their say.

"It helped and should we feel the need to have another meeting then we will. I think we need to discuss the ingredients that went into the performance against Sunderland and put them into the games against Wigan on Saturday and then Arsenal on Boxing Day."

He explained: "I believe those ingredients were all about our attitude, especially when things weren’t going right on the day. We expressed to each other what was wanted during the game."* FOR ALL THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE VALLEY SEE THE BEXLEY EXTRA.