Curbs survives penalty poser

They may have completed a memorable triumph on penalties - but after watching his side send holders Chelsea spiralling out of the Carling Cup, Charlton boss Alan Curbishley admitted he was struggling to find five names to take up the challenge.

Bryan Hughes fired home the winning spot-kick after Stephan Andersen had brilliantly denied home defender Robert Huth.

Darren Bent, Jay Bothroyd, Matt Holland, Hermann Hredirasson all netted from 12 yards to pave the way for Hughes.

"I had to bully a few into taking them," said Alan after the game. "Hughesy was very confident. He's a penalty taker and wanted the last one while Benty wanted the first. It was just a case of filling in the middle.”

You wouldn't have noticed it having watched the Addicks dispatch five perfect penalties with Andersen's superb diving save to deny Robert Huth, who took the Blues' second kick, the pivotal point.

"The first time I thought about penalties was at the end of the first half of extra-time and I could only get four names on the sheet because all of my takers were off," Curbishley added.

"Danny Murphy and Darren Ambrose would have taken one, as would Talal El Karkouri, but he ended up coming off near the end."

Charlton's march to the last 16 of the League Cup equals the furthest the club have ever gone in the competition and Curbishley was delighted with his side's efforts over more than two hours of football.

"When the draw came out it was possibly one of worst we could have got," he said. "I did say at the time though that we've had some fantastic draws over the years and not taken advantage of them, so maybe it would be our night."

Indeed it was, and Curbishley, for the third successive match, was pleased with his side's character after falling behind.

Bent ended a two-game barren spell with the equaliser on the stroke of half-time, capitalising on a mistake from the hapless Huth to lash home, after home skipper John Terry had seemingly set the Blues on their way to the fourth round four minutes earlier.

Alan added: "Scoring so quickly after they got in the lead was a big boost for us. We were very disappointed with John Terry's header, he's done it to us again with a free header.

"But we got straight back into it and I think that was the turning point of the whole game.

"They made some changes for the game but they are so strong in every department. My boys defended magnificently and our keeper pulled off a couple of saves.

"It's been a great night for us. As we came off I did make them go back to the fans as it's their night as much as anything.

"I know a cup run would mean a lot to the fans and I get a lot of letters about it," he continued.

"Middlesbrough gave us great hope a few years ago when they won the League Cup because if you look at the recent finals of both cups they traditionally involve some of the top three or four sides.

"Who knows what will happen in the next round. Let's hope we get a decent draw and hopefully we'll move on."