Bartlett faces a long round trip

Curbishley lost Bartlett through injury after January's internationals

Bartlett, South Africa's all-time top scorer, is already en route to Bloemfontein, the first-half of an 11,000-mile round trip of 11 hours each way.

A Charlton spokesman said: "Shaun has been forced to travel to South Africa, even though his injury is likely to keep him out of the game.

"We would have preferred him to stay in England, but the South African FA asked him to make the journey so he can be assessed by their own doctor.

"It seems unfortunate Shaun is making the trip if he's not going to play.

"But as we don't have a game for another week, it's not something that will disrupt our preparations too much."