WHEN Kevin Lisbie scored his two previous first-team goals this season prior to last Saturday against Ipswich and Chelsea, he did so with boots borrowed from team-mates Jon Fortune and Chris Powell after losing his own.

Well, perhaps Lisbie should have "lost" his boots earlier judged by the way he shot the Addicks into the top of the Premiership table with match-winning goals in the last two wins at Chelsea and Spurs.

Lisbie's 89th minute winner at Stamford Bridge last Wednesday night was, admittedly scored with his head, but the pair against Spurs were expertly taken with his right foot.

Roared on by the biggest Valley crowd since 1977, the Addicks went ahead in the fourth minute as Graham Stuart netted his first goal of the season but he will never score an easier one.

If it was Stuart who got on the scoresheet, it was Jason Euell who deserved the plaudits wheh he refused to give up a lost cause and harassed Spurs' £8.1m defender Dean Richards into a mistake.

Euell, despite being on the ground, somehow managed to hook the ball across goal and into Stuart's path in front of an empty net. It was such an easy chance that even Stevie Wonder would have scored!

Spurs were reeling, and in the 19th minute former Tottenham player Luke Young squeezed a pass through to an unmarked Lisbie, who fired beyond Neil Sullivan to double Charlton's advantage.

And when Gus Poyet's second-half shot deflected off Teddy Sheringham into the net, only for it to be disallowed because the ex-Manchester United man was offside, Spurs knew it wasn't their day. The brlliant Dean Kiely later confirmed that view when he pulled off an incredible save to deny Sheringham.

Lisbie then clinched Charlton's win after a great break from deep in his own half by Scott Parker, before Poyet scored a consolation goal for Spurs.

Charlton manager Alan Curbishley said: "The start was crucial. We tore into them and got the early two-goal lead and from that point on it was just a matter of whether we would score a third or they would get one back.

"It's probably our best performance of the season. Kevin played brilliantly and he deserved his goals but the entire team can be proud of this display.

"We could look back on last week and see it was the week that kick-started our season."

December 11, 2001 11:39