Cardiff City 0 v Charlton Athletic 2

Charlton's topsy-turvy rollercoaster season continued tonight with their sixth away win of the season at Ninian Park. On a wet night in south Wales, Charlton's 4-5-1 formation paid dividends again as they killed the game for 30 minutes, before scoring with their first effort on target after 34 minutes when Matt Holland drove home low after Loovens failed to clear properly following an Andy Reid corner.

Cardiff had little to offer in the first half and they were booed off by their fans. Thompson produced their only shot on target shortly before the Charlton opener and they managed their only corner of the half just before the break.

The second half was little better than the first. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink waddled on after 53 minutes but could do nothing to improve Cardiff's fortunes. Peter Wittingham clipped a post after 74 minutes but it was all over on 79 minutes when Darren Ambrose was brought down for a penalty. Andy Reid made it 2-0 from the spot and the home fans began to make their way home. Big Chris was carrying a knock for much of the second half and was excused near the end for McLeod. McLoed burst through near the death but blasted wide under a fierce tackle from Darren Purse and that was it - 3 points and another clean sheet away from home. Dave Jones might need a bottle of wine to sleep this evening.

Credit where credit's due - the 400+ charlton fans who made the trip were outstanding. I can only assume the BBC London Radio team were penned in with them because they were audible throughout the game; the chant of "Jimmy, Jimmy, what's the score?" was the loudest of the evening.

The win pushes Charlton into third place as Wolves went down 1-0 at Barnsley and we closed the gap on West Brom to a point as they were beaten 4-2 at home by Coventry. Watford recovered from 2-0 down to beat Colchester 3-2 but there's plenty of optimism in that result. Below us, Bristol City kept pace by inflicting another away defeat on Ipswich and Plymouth slipped up at Norwich where Glenn Roeder picked up his second home win. Burnley could only manage a home draw with Leicester, so a good evening for the Addicks.

Looking at the form of the leaders, it it interesting to note that we are not alone with our inconsistent form. Watford's home and away record is remarkably similar to our own; we have both scored and conceded the same number of goals at home and both have better away records, Watford with 22 points and us with 20. Sheffield United were beaten at home by Stoke 3-0, and Ipswich failed to win again away from home for the 10th time in succession.

Looking ahead to Saturday, we have to believe we can beat Ipswich in the circumstances. If we can, we have every chance of catching West Brom and moving into second place as they face a tricky match at Leicester who rescued a point at Burnley tonight. Watford are also at Stoke, so we can close the gap on the leaders to within 2 points. Wolves also face Burnley and Plymouth face Bristol City, so we have a great opportunity.

Palace and Millwall both won this evening, but it's tolerable when we also do it and remain a division above one and a division and half above the other.

Keep the faith!