Well, the unbeaten run is finally over.

A 2-0 home defeat to bottom of the table Portsmouth on Wednesday evening is probably about as Charlton a result as you can imagine. Karen Hills will likely point to a disrupted squad due to international duty but, with only a handful of players away, it shouldn’t have had much of an effect.

In truth the unbeaten run doesn’t matter. There’s one goal this season and that’s promotion. Unbeaten runs and winning the title are distractions.

This Sunday's 2pm visitors Sunderland are firmly mid table. Their survival is virtually guaranteed and promotion is definitely off the cards. It would be helpful if they were on the beach already but that seems unlikely as three of their five wins this season have come in their last five games.

In many ways they are the perfect team for The Addicks to face this weekend. They rank bang average for a whole host of stats and aren’t an ultra defensive side. Charlton struggle to break down teams who sit in a low block but Sunderland struggle to keep clean sheets.

The lead at the top of WSL2 remains nine points and, although nearest rivals Birmingham do have two games in hand, one of them (next Wednesday) is away to in-form Newcastle. Crystal Palace also travel to Newcastle the following weekend. As long as Charlton can keep picking up points they should be fine but they now need to do something they’ve barely had to do in the last year - bounce back from disappointment.

This weekend’s fixture is a chance to show some fight and character. Let's hope they do so.

Picture by Danni Fairbairn