Charlton Athletic 1-3 Sheffield Wednesday: Fletcher brace beats Addicks at The Valley

Sheffield Wednesday striker Steven Fletcher scored twice as the Owls beat Charlton Athletic in front of the Addicks' prospective new owners at The Valley.

Fletcher's superb 17th-minute header from Barry Bannan's cross gave Wednesday the lead, only for Macauley Bonne to level nine minutes later.

But the Owls regained the lead when Fletcher scored from the penalty spot on 80 minutes after Jacob Murphy was adjudged to have been brought down by Addicks midfielder Erhun Oztumer.

And Garry Monk's side sealed their first win in six games in the fourth minute of injury time when Adam Reach crossed for the unmarked Atdhe Nuhiu to head home at the far post.

This was Charlton's first game since controversial Belgian owner Roland Duchatelet agreed to sell the club to East Street Investments on Friday.

Prospective new chairman Matt Southall was present at The Valley to witness first-hand the extent of injury-hit Charlton's immediate problems as Lee Bowyer's weakened side stretched their winless run to seven games.

With only five players to choose from on the bench after Ben Purrington was forced to pull out, some Charlton players were also struck down by vomiting and diarrhoea. And the Addicks' injury crisis worsened further when they had to keep Oztumer on the pitch after he suffered what looked like a hamstring strain.

After the upsurge in mood in south-east London following the news of Duchatelet's impending departure, the afternoon got off to a bad start for the home fans.

Following a neat exchange of passes with Morgan Fox, Bannan curled over a superbly weighted in-swinging left-foot cross from close to the left flank and Fletcher nipped in just ahead of his marker Naby Sarr to steer home a deft header just inside Dillon Phillips' left upright.

But, just nine minutes later, the Addicks levelled out of the blue. Recalled teenager Alfie Doughty surged down the left flank to find Bonne with a low cross and the striker's half-hit left-foot shot took a deflection off Tom Lees to wrong-foot Owls keeper Cameron Dawson for his sixth goal in 11 games.

It took until 10 minutes from time for the Owls to go back in front from the spot. Murphy went down as he knocked the ball past the labouring Oztumer, the penalty was awarded and Fletcher stroked his eighth goal of the season into the bottom left-hand corner.

Scotland midfielder Bannan then proved the architect again when he picked out Nuhiu to wrap up the scoring with the simplest of headers deep into added time, extending Charlton's winless streak to seven matches.

Charlton manager Lee Bowyer:

"It was a tough day. We've got enough injuries, but then to chuck in a few illnesses as well doesn't help. It was a bit of everything. Sickness, diarrhoea, not good.

"Ben Purrington was down to start, but he was ill just before we got on the coach, so we had to send him home. Then once we got here and put the team sheet in, Albie Morgan was being sick just before the game. We couldn't do anything about that. We just had to see how he went. Then again at half-time he was sick. That's why we took him off. He couldn't move in the end.

"I hate losing. That's quite obvious to see but I've just said to the players: 'Hold your heads up high. You should be proud of putting on a great team performance. They can't give any more that what they are giving out there. We were in the ,game right up until the 80th minute."

On the potential takeover:

"I've spoken to the potential new owners and it was a positive conversation. If they do get the green light from the EFL, it's going to be good news for the football club.

"They have said that there is money to spend in January and that me and the staff are going to get proper contracts.

"It sounds good, so we need to start planning for January. It'll be nice to be able to strengthen the squad if we can."

Sheffield Wednesday manager Garry Monk:

"I'm pleased for the players because we've had a lot of frustration recently, when we've played as well as that, we haven't taken our chances and we've made costly mistakes.

"But we wanted to show that we still had the belief and character to respond even though we've had a tricky period when we haven't won games when we've deserved to.

"We've taken leads in games and something has gone against us, but I saw the belief in the players.

"We could easily have felt sorry for ourselves when they equalised, but we didn't and we showed a great response. It was a deserved win."