Chris Powell must start the home fires burning

Chris Powell believes Charlton owe their fans a victory in tomorrow’s London derby with Millwall following their disappointing home form this season.

Charlton have won only four of their 18 Championship games at The Valley but their eight wins away from home is only bettered by the top three in the Championship — Cardiff (9 away wins), Hull (9) and Watford (10).

Add their eight defeats and six draws and it gives them the worst home record of the 24 teams in the division to leave Powell vexed.

“We really need to give the fans something because they fully deserve it,” he said. “Our supporters have been magnificent with us all season but a lot of them have missed a lot of our victories because they can’t all travel away.

“It is about us handling everything that is thrown at us in the remaining nine games and that all begins tomorrow against Millwall.”

Powell welcomes Yann Kermorgant back from suspension and could give Mark Gower his Charlton debut. The 34-year-old midfielder has joined on loan from Swansea until the end of the season.

“It is an area that I felt we needed someone to come in and boost the numbers,” said Powell, who denied reports linking him with a move for Bolton striker Marvin Sordell.

“Mark has got a good pedigree. He is a talented player, a good user of the ball and I think he will just add quality to the squad.

“I am looking at him just to help us over the line for the rest of the season and then who knows. Maybe, depending on how it goes, he may be someone I look at for the future.”

Millwall striker Rob Hulse, who is on loan from Queens Park Rangers, played for Charlton in the reserve fixture between the sides earlier this season and Powell is wary of his threat.

He said: “Rob came in when we lost Yann and Ricardo [Fuller] to injury, he came in and did a fantastic job for us. He was a good professional, trained really well, was good in the dressing room but of course those boys got fit and financially we could not really do it. But he is someone who I felt did extremely well for us.”

Millwall beat Blackburn on Wednesday to set up an FA Cup semi-final with Wigan next month but they have lost seven of their last eight Championship games. The Lions have taken four points from a possible 27 and they are just five points above the relegation zone with two games in hand.

Manager Kenny Jackett said: “We should really enjoy these kind of games because they are great occasions.

“Performances look after results and the fluctuation in our performances has been too much lately, so we need a consistency of performance going forward. If we can get consistent performances over a 10-game period, you will win enough games to be able to say you’ve done well.”

Millwall today signed two players on loan for the rest of the season. Striker Jermaine Easter has joined from Crystal Palace and midfielder Richard Chaplow arrives from Southampton. Both are eligible to face Charlton.