Roy Hodgson starts life at Bristol City with a victory

Roy Hodgson made a winning start as Bristol City interim head coach as they recorded a 2-1 victory at Charlton.

Centre-back Noah Eile’s first goal since joining from New York Red Bulls at the start of February settled the Championship contest at the Valley.

Former England boss Hodgson made his return to club football for the first time since stepping down as Crystal Palace manager in February 2024.

And his City side made a strong start in south-east London with striker Emil Riis squandering a big chance inside the opening three minutes. The Dane was played clean through by Neto Borges but struck the outside of the right post.

The visitors were good value for their opening goal after 11 minutes. Scott Twine had already had a shot blocked by Amari’i Bell but made no mistake from inside the area after being picked out by Max Bird.

Charlton goalkeeper Will Mannion made a diving save to his left to push away a Bird attempt.

The Addicks’ leveller on the half-hour mark came against the run of play. Lyndon Dykes combined with Charlie Kelman and tucked a low finish into the bottom left corner of the net for the Scotland international’s third goal since joining from Birmingham in the winter transfer window.

It was the first time Charlton had scored in the first half at home since November 22.

Twine tried a speculative free-kick from near the touchline – trying to punish Mannion straying from his goal-line – but the ball just cleared the crossbar.

Charlton’s Harry Clarke drove over on his weaker left foot in the final action of the first period.

City retook the lead in the 55th minutes. Swedish defender Eile scrambled the ball home after Twine’s free-kick had squirmed out of Mannion’s grasp.

Sonny Carey sent a half-volley across the face of Radek Vitek’s goal as the hosts tried to find an instant response but then Mannion was required to make a one-handed stop to deny the influential Twine.

Charlton substitute Ibrahim Fullah produced a 74th-minute attempt from the edge of the box that required a smart save by Vitek.

The on-loan Manchester United goalkeeper made an even better stop from close range to deny Matt Godden, keeping out the experienced forward’s shot with his legs.

Tyreece Campbell produced a poor finish after Jayden Fevrier produced an excellent cross a matter of seconds after replacing Charlton captain Greg Docherty.

Kayne Ramsay produced a superb tackle to deny Sinclair Armstrong after the City substitute seized on a mistake by Bell.

Vitek made another big save from Joe Rankin-Costello in a pulsating finale while Armstrong had another chance to kill off the match on the counter but Mannion denied him.