Charlton Athletic enter the New Year looking over their shoulders following a first half to the season in which they failed to record consecutive wins.
Inconsistency and a shortage of goals have prevented the Addicks from hitting the heights that some were expecting them to following their impressive end to the last campaign, and they close out 2013 20th in the Championship.
Here Sports Mole looks back on an underwhelming, but by no means disastrous, few months for Chris Powell's side.
August
Newly-promoted Bournemouth were first up for the Addicks, whose Championship season got off to a miserable start as they picked up only one point from their first three games, with a 2-0 defeat to the Cherries preceding a 1-0 home loss to Middlesbrough.
Those two disappointments were separated by a confident performance in the Capital One Cup first round as Simon Church scored twice in a 4-0 thrashing of Oxford United, but they were knocked out of the competition three weeks later when they conceded two late goals in going down 3-2 to Huddersfield Town.
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Charlton got off the mark in the league with a 2-2 draw with Barnsley in which Church was again on the scoresheet, and his strike partner Yann Kermorgant followed suit by scoring as the month ended with a 2-1 triumph over his former club Leicester City.
September
An international break perhaps halted any momentum that morale-boosting win could have given them as Powell's men went winless throughout September, which started with Kermorgant netting again in 1-1 draw at Watford.
Cameron Stewart, a loan signing from Hull City, opened his account for Athletic but they still lost to Huddersfield for the second time in the campaign and coming away empty handed from their home game with Millwall left Charlton 20th in the table, which is where they finished the month after becoming the latest victims of Burnley's prolific strike pairing.
October
Their run without victory was stretched to six games following home draws with Nottingham Forest and Blackpool, but both results may have been considered good points as the Reds and the Tangerines had only lost one game each in promising starts to the season.
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Things looked slightly rosier after they won for the first time in six weeks by edging out Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park, but they did not take maximum points against the division's other Lancashire club as they played out a goalless stalemate at Wigan Athletic.
November
An undefeated October was built on with a 1-0 success at Birmingham City, but the Championship's top strikers again enjoyed themselves against the Addicks, who conceded four to Ross McCormack and Leeds United and were they narrowly beaten by Queens Park Rangers courtesy of Charlie Austin's strike.
Charlton's own forwards were finding goals harder to come by, though, and it was only ever-present vice captain Michael Morrison's well-organised back line, which had a defensive record to match that of several teams in the playoff places, that were keeping them out of the relegation zone.
Church was first choice up front and he scored only his third goal of the season in a 2-0 triumph over Doncaster Rovers in which Dale Stephens also notched, but that was the last time that they would taste victory for a month as Ipswich Town came away from The Valley with a 1-0 win in their next outing.
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December
They were beaten by the same scoreline on their trip to Reading in the first game of a very busy December, and crucial points were then thrown away as they let a two-goal lead slip to draw 2-2 with Yeovil Town.
Powell must have been hoping that they could surge clear of trouble with the kind of run that Steve McClaren's arrival had inspired at Derby County, who were in full flow when they visited The Valley and claimed a 2-0 win.
The Addicks were only one place above the relegation zone when the festive period began, but three games without defeat over Christmas means that they sit just a fraction more comfortably heading into the New Year.
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Kermorgant opened the scoring in a 1-1 draw with Bolton Wanderers and then became the club's top goalscorer for the campaign by bagging his fifth in a 3-2 win over Brighton & Hove Albion in which defender Laurie Wilson was the unlikely scorer of a Boxing Day brace.
The spoils were shared with Sheffield Wednesday in their final game of 2013, which hasn't ended as well as Charlton fans may have thought it would have following their eight-game unbeaten streak at the end of last season.
Joe Fish
