Birmingham City and Chris Davies may have League One fear after Charlton Athletic exposure: View | OneFootball

Birmingham City suffered defeat in League One for the first time this season against Charlton Athletic at The Valley last weekend.

Birmingham City were beaten in League One for the first time this season against Charlton Athletic at The Valley last weekend and other clubs in the third tier will have taken confidence from the Addicks' performance.

The Blues were full of confidence ahead of their visit to SE7, with captain Krystian Bielik going as far as to say that his side were "too good" for League One during the week leading up to the game, following their unbeaten start to the season and impressive run of seven straight league victories.

However, the visitors were put under pressure by Charlton's aggressive press from the first minute at The Valley, after Nathan Jones had switched to a back four and a 'box' midfield, enabling his team to go man-for-man out of possession against Birmingham.

Chris Davies' side could have found themselves behind at the break, with Daniel Kanu having missed a couple of excellent chances for Charlton to take the lead shortly before half-time, but the hosts managed to find their winner midway through the second half when Matty Godden turned home a long throw which had been allowed to bounce inside the penalty area.

The result will have given confidence to the rest of the teams in League One, with Jones having proved that it is possible to unsettle a Birmingham side that previously looked as though it would be very difficult to beat.

Charlton Athletic showed that Birmingham City can be beaten

After Birmingham's summer spending spree, which included a record-breaking deal to sign Jay Stansfield from Premier League side Fulham, it became clear that they were going to be the favourites to win the League One title this season.

Blues showed that they have the spirit as well as the quality to thrive in the third tier with late goals against Reading and Wigan Athletic, and also an impressive comeback from 2-0 down to beat Peterborough United at St Andrew's last month.

However, the defeat against Charlton showed that Birmingham can be beaten, and Alex Cochrane's comments after the game, as per London News Online, suggested that pressing them could be more effective than sitting back and trying to grind out a result.

"Charlton made it hard for us from the first whistle," said Cochrane.

"It was a tough game. It's not easy coming here - Charlton made it hard for us. It hurts but we have to pick ourselves up and move on.

"They pressed well throughout the game, you saw that from the first minute. It is maybe just down to us as players to try and get around that - but it wasn't easy."

Birmingham were almost the architects of their own downfall on a couple of occasions while trying to play out from the back, which they may be concerned could encourage other teams to press them aggressively high up the pitch.

Birmingham City have a difficult run of fixtures in October

Having already played Huddersfield Town and Charlton in League One during October, Birmingham face a few more challenging fixtures before the end of the month.

They will travel to Lincoln City after the international break, with the Imps currently on a seven-game unbeaten run in the league and fourth in the table.

After that, Blues host Bolton Wanderers in midweek, who are on a four-game unbeaten run themselves as they look to climb the table following a disappointing start to the season.

To end the month, Birmingham will face high-flyers Mansfield Town away from home, with the Stags having won five games in a row in League One and just two points currently separating them from Blues at the top of the table.

It will be interesting to see whether Birmingham can prove that they are too good for League One during their upcoming run of games, or if their defeat against Charlton has shown other teams in the division how to beat them ahead of three difficult fixtures in a row.

The fear for Davies and his side will be that Charlton have shown the rest of the third tier how best to approach games against the title favourites.