Goals from Jason Euell and Paul Konchesky gave Charlton their fourth consecutive Premiership victory and extended Liverpool's dismal run.

While the result gave Charlton their best sequence of results in the Premiership it left Liverpool without a win in their last five league encounters.

Gerard Houllier's side were made to pay for a desperately slow start to the match when Euell finished a fine Charlton move from close range in the 36th minute.

Match details

36mins: Euell puts Charlton in front 78mins: Konchesky doubles the home side's lead

The visitors fought back strongly in the second half but Konchesky ended their hopes with a second in the closing stages, and Liverpool remain four points behind leaders Arsenal.

Neither side impressed in the opening period at The Valley, and Liverpool keeper Chris Kirkland was the key figure.

The England Under-21 player replaced out-of-form Jerzy Dudek in the starting line-up and made several good saves before a collision with Shaun Bartlett almost saw him taken off.

There is a dynamic and a momentum going on that gets broken and sometimes the players start to think they can't win any more Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier

Kirkland recovered, only to see Euell break the deadlock as the half drew to a close by getting on the end of a flowing move and drilling a low shot into the corner.

Moments later, Liverpool's afternoon got even worse as Emile Heskey was forced off with an injury.

And after Owen and El Hadj Diouf were thwarted by Charlton keeper Dean Kiely, Kevin Lisbie could have doubled the home side's advantage in first-half injury time when clean through.

Again Kirkland proved up to the task, coming out to block Lisbie's effort.

We got our noses in front and then the game was hinged on whether they could equalise or we could get a second Charlton boss Alan Curbishley

The second half saw Liverpool pour forward from the first whistle, with Danny Murphy taking charge of the midfield and threatening Kiely's goal on several occasions.

But Charlton had thier chances, with Lisbie again thwarted by Kirkland before blasting the rebound over the bar.

As the game opened up Bartlett went close after good work from Lisbie, while substitute Milan Baros missed a golden chance for Liverpool with a header from six yards.

The Czech striker did get the ball in the net soon after but his effort was ruled offside and it proved the last moment of hope for the visitors.

Charlton rallied in thee final quarter of an hour and secured all three points when Konchesky collected a rebound in the box and clipped the ball over the prone Kirkland.

Charlton: Kiely, Rowett, Rufus, Fish, Powell, Lisbie, Parker (Jensen 69), Kishishev (Young 80), Konchesky, Euell, Bartlett (Svensson 88).

Subs Not Used: Roberts, Fortune.
Booked: Euell, Konchesky, Svensson.

Liverpool: Kirkland, Traore (Baros 61), Henchoz, Hyypia, Carragher, Murphy, Hamann, Gerrard, Heskey (Riise 37), Owen, Diouf.

Subs Not Used: Dudek, Smicer, Diao.
Booked: Traore, Henchoz, Hamann.

Attendance: 26,694

Referee: M Riley (W Yorkshire).