Back in March they had improbably grabbed the points against the promotion favourites with a single Conor Coady goal. This time they failed to muster a single shot on target and were comfortably beaten 3-0.

The difference, however, may have been less about them than Middlesbrough’s reported £10m striker Will Lankshear, a summer signing from Tottenham Hotspur, who scored twice to take his season’s league tally to 13 in as many games. That is two more goals than Charlton have managed in total.

Boro's Will Lankshear was a constant menace against Charlton (Image: PA)

The home side came into the game off the back of a 5-1 win at Bolton Wanderers. The Addicks, who made five changes, could have few complaints about this scoreline. Despite that, and admittedly poor defending for the goals, this was far from their worst performance in recent weeks and the recalled Oliver Skipp gave probably his best display in a Charlton shirt so far.

With his fellow defensive midfielder Conor Coventry dropped to the bench, that will only have added to the perception among fans that the two players are too similar to feature effectively together.

Ironically, it was Skipp’s late replacement by Nathaniel Chalobah which led to Lankshear adding the third Middlesbrough goal on 82 minutes.

Chalobah, whose previous appearance before injury in August was also Charlton’s last win, slipped on the edge of the penalty area and Lankshear gobbled up the loose ball to beat Arthur Okonkwo from 20 yards with a fine finish into the top left-hand corner.

The scoreline masked a better away performance from the Addicks, who had worked hard to avoid being humiliated against opponents well capable of doing just that.

The alarm bells were already ringing on 12 minutes when the lively Amari Cozier-Duberry pulled the ball back for Sebastian Berhalter to beat Okonkwo from the edge of the penalty area.

A Cozier-Duberry cross to the far-post soon found Tommy Conway, who fired across goal and wide. Lankshear looked dangerous from the outset. However, it took the home side until the 44th minute to unlock the visitors’ defence again when Charlton’s back three failed to deal with Berhalter’s through ball, allowing Lankshear to run on and beat Okonkwo.

In between Charlton had their fair share of possession at the other end, going closest when Miles Leaburn got up well to a Tyler Bindon long throw only to see his glancing header go wide of the far post. Charlie Kelman worked hard alongside Leaburn for no reward. The Addicks were able to get the ball into the home penalty area but could not do any damage.

A half-chance on 48 minutes saw Joe Rankin-Costello pull his shot well wide of the left-hand post after benefiting from a deflection on the edge of the box.

Charlton had lost Kayne Ramsay to injury at the break and Okonkwo was increasingly busy as the half wore and the visitors’ defence tired. They enjoyed several slices of luck, one deflection off Amari’i Bell flashing across their goal and a sliced intervention by Bindon bouncing just wide.

At the other end Kelman put a difficult near-post header over from a cross by substitute Tyreece Campbell late on, but Radek Vitek in the home goal was never tested.

The Addicks will have been grateful to have reached the final whistle without conceding more - and also that few of their future opponents will pose the threat of Lankshear and his teammates.

"We are constantly in games," said Addicks boss Nathan Jones, whose side now face Bolton and Sheffield United at The Valley this week. “There are moments where, if we don't score, they will sooner or later, because we're not defending well enough.”