Shelvey stars but Forest prevail

Three months, 18 games and 1,620 long minutes of trying have still not yielded a win for Charlton. Ipswich, on 4 October, were the last team to lose to them. Here, Phil Parkinson's side kept going until the end, at least. But despite a memorable full league debut from 16-year-old Jonjo Shelvey, Charlton are still rooted to the bottom of the Championship on 19 miserable points.

Meanwhile, having officially taken charge of Forest on Monday, Billy Davies has a perfect record after his first game in charge, with a valuable victory pulling his new team a little further away from the wrong end of the division.

"A nice start. But they had us on the back foot for the first 25 minutes. It was men against boys on the physical side," the Scot said, making a pitch to the Forest board for some transfer cash, "though January is a horrendous window, so we certainly won't dive into it."

What he and the 24, 553 crowd inside an Antarctic-like Valley had just witnessed was the Championship's crunch match of the day start quietly. Shelvey was a delight throughout. The midfielder with the bald head grabbed a goal last week in the FA Cup which made him the club's youngest ever scorer. That added to his place in the record books as Charlton's youngest debutant. And he began with a turn and pass near halfway that indicated why he has been given his chance, setting Deon Burton free. Davies must have been aggrieved to see his defence caught so square. But he was saved by the profligacy of the veteran Burton who, having closed in on Paul Smith's goal, failed to hit the target.

As the Forest manager correctly observed, it was all Charlton until his team's fortunes improved during two minutes just after the half-hour that ended the contest. First, Paul Anderson's mishit shot became a cross for Nathan Tyson to score. Then, Matt Holland directed a dire header into Earnshaw's path. His lob over Rob Elliot was delightful and Davies accepted the invitation to give his new support a wave.

This felt like bad luck for Charlton and they continued to press. Mark Hudson drew a sharp save from Smith near the interval, while Shelvey was running the team from his position playing off the main striker, Burton. Tall and strong, he appears to have a real chance of making it, which also seems to be why Parkinson entrusted him with all corners and set pieces.

The Charlton manager sent his players out early for the restart. And they responded well, producing several chances and corners, each of which was delivered expertly by Shelvey. He was still chasing around as the match entered its final phase, demanding the ball and generally alerting Premier League clubs that he is worth a look.

Yet no team-mates could match his quality. When Darren Ambrose finally offered some support with a fierce shot Smith, again, proved impossible to beat.

"We've go to go again," offered a clearly exhausted and embattled Parkinson, when asked about the challenge ahead. They need to start soon.