Goodfellow strikes for Stoke

After Jermaine Defoe's dramatic entrance for West Ham on Tuesday, the Worthington Cup produced another instant hero when the teenager Marc Goodfellow gave Second Division Stoke a first-leg advantage over their Premiership opponents at the Britannia Stadium.

After Jermaine Defoe's dramatic entrance for West Ham on Tuesday, the Worthington Cup produced another instant hero when the teenager Marc Goodfellow gave Second Division Stoke a first-leg advantage over their Premiership opponents at the Britannia Stadium.

The 19-year-old, making his debut as a substitute 11 minutes from time, needed only four minutes to come up with a winning goal, denying Charlton the chance to go back to The Valley next week on level terms.

This followed a first half in which the Finnish striker Jonatan Johansson had given Charlton the lead with his fourth goal in as many games, but which ended with Stoke equalising from an angrily disputed penalty, converted by Stefan Thordarson after Greg Shields was ruled to have brought down the wing-back Mikael Hansson.

The Charlton manager, Alan Curbishley, made six changes from the side that defeated Tottenham last Saturday. With Carl Tiler and Richard Rufus injured and Steve Brown suspended, a makeshift central defence of Shields and Andy Todd made their first appearance of the season. Graham Stuart, Mark Kinsella and Andy Hunt were all rested.

On 24 minutes Shields almost made a significant impact at the other end, thrusting forward to meet Kevin Lisbie's flick-on in front of goal but, thankfully for the home side, Kyle Lightbourne made a vital block.

Lightbourne was then on the end of Stoke's best first-half chance, five minutes later, meeting Bjarni Gudjohnsson's cross with a volley that Dean Kiely would have struggled to stop had it been on target.

Charlton fielded both their key summer signings, the Danish midfielder Claus Jensen as well as Johansson, who gave them the lead after 40 minutes in which they had certainly held the upper hand. Ward reacted well to save from Lisbie, after Scott Parker had threaded a pass into the box, but Johansson was the quickest to pounce as the ball ran loose.

With almost the last kick of the half, however, the home side were level after Shields gave away a penalty, after appearing to halt Hansson's weaving run with a legitimate tackle.

Charlton's protests continued even after Thordarson had blasted the ball home from the spot.

The goal encouraged Stoke to be more adventurous and Kiely needed to be alert to deny Thordarson a second goal early in the second half, after a fine pass by Brynjar Gunnarsson created space on the left. Thordarson wasted an even better opportunity 18 minutes from time after a slip by Radostin Kishishev.

By this time Charlton looked increasingly willing to settle for level terms with a home second leg to come.

Goodfellow's chance came 11 minutes from time when Lightbourne, already treated for a bang on the head, limped off with what appeared to be a leg injury. The youngster had been on the field only four minutes when he ran on to a superb right-to-left diagonal pass from Graham Kavanagh, controlled the ball in his stride and drove a left foot shot beyond Kiely into the far corner of the net.

Stoke City (3-5-2): Ward; Mohan, Gunnarsson, Thomas; Hansson, Gudjohnsson (Risom, 73), Kavanagh, O'Connor, Clarke; Lightbourne (Goodfellow, 79), Thordarsson (Thorne, 74). Substitutes not used: Muggleton (gk), Petty.

Charlton Athletic (4-4-2): Kiely; Kishishev (Konchesky, 90), Todd, Shields, Powell; Newton, Jensen, Parker, Robinson; Lisbie, Johansson. Substitutes not used: Kinsella, Ilic (gk), Salako, MacDonald.

Referee: G Cain (Seaforth, Merseyside).