THERE must be fewer more satisfying ways of recording your first win of the season than the manner in which Exeter City did it on Saturday.

Ryan Harley's injury-time penalty sealed a 1-0 win over Charlton Athletic in an encounter during which the hosts' endeavours looked destined to go unrewarded.

This will not go down as a vintage Grecians showing — City's passing was not at its best and Paul Tisdale's men were largely restricted to shooting from range as they failed to rediscover the sharp cutting edge they have demonstrated in recent weeks.

But few of the 5,000-odd home fans inside James's Park would have been bothered about that when Harley's spot-kick hit the back of the net in the 93rd minute. City had been patient, solid at the back and bagged the three points.

The goalscoring hero summed the afternoon up succinctly after the game.

When asked whether he thought the referee was right to award the home side a penalty, Harley simply shrugged and said: "I thought it was at the time, apparently it wasn't but, who cares?"

The Addicks will feel hard done by that they didn't get a point from the match.

But they only have themselves to blame for not taking the chances which came their way and, in truth, spending large parts of the afternoon looking distinctly ordinary.

Lee Martin's performance was the silver lining to Charlton's cloud, often looking dangerous when cutting in off the right flank and it was the former Plymouth Argyle man who conjured the first chance of the afternoon, forcing Paul Jones into a fine save when he shot low and hard across the City goalkeeper on nine minutes.

And Martin was at the heart of the Addicks' other most significant chance of the half when he combined with Pawel Abbot to set Kyel Reid up for a shooting chance on the edge of the box, only for Jones to again deny the visitors.

But City dominated large spells of the first half and Liam Sercombe went close on a number of occasions, forcing Rob Elliot into a flying save on 14 minutes and shooting narrowly wide three minutes later.

The Grecians youth product came closest to putting the home side in front in the second half when he raced on to Steve Tully's knock down and fired in a screamer from the edge of the box which went narrowly wide.

Charlton improved marginally after the break and even had the ball in the net just short of the hour mark when the ineffectual Abbot bundled home from a yard out following a goalmouth scramble.

But the referee ruled the effort out for Abbot's use of a hand in the build-up — and that was as close as the Addicks were to come.

At the other end Jamie Cureton's introduction as a substitute had injected new pace and purpose to the Grecians' attack and that was to ultimately prove the difference between the sides.

Racing on to a hopeful punt from Richard Logan, playing at right wing-back while Tully received treatment for a head wound, Cureton got the ball under control and broke into the box before swivelling and shooting at goal.

Elliot produced a fine stop to repel the effort, but Cureton was first to the rebound and tumbled under the unnecessary challenge of Miguel Llera, prompting referee David Phillips to point to the spot and hand Harley the chance to round the afternoon off in style.