GORDON STRACHAN said after this game that if Saints are to move on a level in the league next year they need to win more games away from home - and the stats back him up.

The Saints boss, along with many of his players, has always insisted that the league is the best way to gauge how well a team has done.

Reaching the cup final is a great achievement but to do well in the league proves you are a team that can perform consistently over a long period of time.

If you are looking for reasons as to why in the space of a few months Saints have gone from a potential top six team to a mid-table side, then their away form is one aspect to consider.

Strachan's men have won only three times on the road this season, drawing five times and losing on nine occasions.

Their last league win away from St Mary's came at Sunderland at the end of January and since then they have taken just one point from five games at opposition grounds.

At home Saints have lost only two Premiership matches all season.

Quite why their form should be so different away from St Mary's is something of a mystery.

It certainly disproves what many pundits suggest that in this day and age it doesn't make a difference whether you are at home or away.

Of course, when you play away from home there is more emphasis on the hosts to attack and make the running which perhaps dispels the thoughts that Saints are a counter attacking side.

One telling statistic might be that all their away Premiership wins this season have been 1-0 with James Beattie scoring the solitary goal.

That could suggest that, when teams attack them as they do away from home, Saints are more liable to concede than at St Mary's where the defence is often imperious.

Certainly the statistics tell you that. With one more home game than away game played in the Premier League so far this term, Saints have scored 25 times at St Mary's and 16 times on the road and conceded 16 at home but 24 away.

In goal difference that's plus nine at home but minus eight away.

Charlton were a team that went at Saints but Strachan's men still had their chances. Perhaps that suggests that with fewer chances away from home, with the exception of Beattie, they aren't quite clinical enough.

Alan Curbishley sent his side out with Jason Euell and Shaun Bartlett up front but with Kevin Lisbie attacking from the right side of midfield to almost make a third striker for much of the game.

Scott Parker in midfield was also quick to join his front men in attack.

In truth, much of this game was won for Charlton in the middle of the park where Parker and Claus Jensen were dominant in the central roles, keeping Anders Svensson unusually subdued.

Paul Jones had to be on good form to turn away two early efforts while Dean Kiely also reacted sharply to turn Beattie's drive, deflected off Brett Ormerod's head, over the bar.

But the home side took the lead on 32 minutes with a mixture of great skill and questionable defending.

Jensen laid the back to Parker who ran past Anders Svensson, Wayne Bridge and Michael Svensson before superbly firing his shot across Jones and into the far corner.

But this game could have turned out differently had Saints taken two golden opportunities in the space of a few seconds to go in level at half-time.

Firstly Bridge played the ball down the left wing for Ormerod who turned his man but saw Kiely block at his feet.

Then Matt Oakley was in the centre of goal just seven yards out but blasted over the bar.

Charlton doubled their lead five minutes after the re-start when Jensen's inswinging left wing free-kick was flicked into the top corner by the head of Lisbie.

There were a few more chances for both sides but Charlton seemed in control until the 90th minute when Beattie brilliantly controlled on his chest and launched a dipping volley from 20 yards which cleared Kiely for his 23rd league strike of the season.

This time, though, the chance of the 1-0 away win had already gone.