Roy Hodgson began his stint as Bristol City interim head coach with a 2-1 win at Charlton, the result settled by centre-back Noah Eile’s first goal since joining from New York Red Bulls in February.
The former England manager returned to club football for the first time since leaving Crystal Palace in February 2024, and his side started brightly. Emil Riis should have given City an early lead when he was played through by Neto Borges but struck the outside of the post inside three minutes. City took the lead on 11 minutes when Scott Twine, after an earlier effort was blocked, finished from inside the area following a Max Bird pass.
Charlton responded against the run of play on 30 minutes. Lyndon Dykes linked with Charlie Kelman to slot a low finish into the bottom-left corner for his third goal since arriving from Birmingham in the winter window — Charlton’s first home first-half goal since November 22.
Twine almost caught goalkeeper Will Mannion off his line with a speculative free-kick that sailed over, and Harry Clarke wasted a late first-half chance with a left-footed effort.
City regained the lead in the 55th minute. Twine’s free-kick was parried by Mannion and Eile scrambled home the rebound. Charlton pushed for an equaliser: Sonny Carey saw a half-volley cross the face of goal, and Mannion produced a one-handed stop to deny Twine soon after.
The game remained tense. Substitute Ibrahim Fullah forced a smart save from Radek Vitek in the 74th minute, and Vitek then produced a superb close-range save to deny Matt Godden. Tyreece Campbell missed a promising chance after Jayden Fevrier’s cross, while Kayne Ramsay made a vital tackle to stop Sinclair Armstrong following a defensive error by Amari’i Bell.
In a pulsating finale Vitek kept City in front with another big stop from Joe Rankin-Costello, and Charlton’s late counter from Armstrong was denied by Mannion, allowing Bristol City to hold on for the victory.
Charlton manager Nathan Jones rued poor starts to both halves and a failure to show quality in the final third, saying conceding avoidable goals and missing chances cost them the game. Hodgson downplayed the idea of managerial heroics, instead praising his players’ desire, shape and determination, adding he was pleased with how they defended the late pressure and that he had learned a lot watching this group live for the first time. He said he wants the team to keep working with the same spirit in the remaining weeks of his spell in charge.