Pardew - that's the difference.

Like you I'm guessing, I have been reflecting on our second successive away win built on a clean sheet with a dominant midfield and a play-for-ninety minutes attitude. Apart for the obvious recovery from the disappointment of losing three in a week prior to that, we have re-asserted ourselves when we needed to and done what most people thought was beyond us. We are back in the hunt and chasing down West Brom and Bristol City for the second automatic promotion spot. So, what's different and who deserves credit?

First off, we have to acknowledge the efforts of the players. Nicky Weaver arguably had his best game so far at St. Mary's and commanded his defence to another clean sheet yesterday at City. Sam Sodje has been the main change in our Achilles Heel position this year at Centre Half. Jon Fortune would appear to look happier too playing alongside him. Grant Basey has come into the game too in the last three matches and done very well at left-back. He's obviously still learning the game but has already shown maturity and speed of learning. His elders and more experienced colleagues may find it hard to get back into the side at this rate of progress. Danny Mills has been the most consistent player of the season so far.

Thomas has been making a visibly greater effort since returning (still need more) and although we've been playing five across midfield at times, they have mostly continued the decent performances we've come to expect (or very decent in Reid's case). Big Chris has shouldered the burden of loan striker like Darren Bent did for most of the past two seasons and Luke Varney has shown his maturity as well in responding to his sidelining by playing with determination and focus when called upon to joined the fray.

For me, however, the biggest difference has been Alan Pardew's management. His reaction to all of our performances so far this season has been just about perfect. He reads the game brilliantly and judges the mood as well. He knows when to hold and he knows when to go. After the early season defensive bloopers he shared the supporters views and urged improvement. When there was none he acted by getting Sodje at the last minute. For me Curbs would have commented about bringing fresh faces in and then done nothing. He made no bones about the poor performance against QPR but avoided blaming individuals and instead took his share of the responsibility and directed the focus on our need to recover in the next two tough away games. He stood up for the players he's recruited and showed them faith. Curbs might have looked for other explanations and expressed concerns about the next two matches.

Having started 4-5-1 at Southampton Pardew's plans were rocked by the unfortunate dismissal of Semedo but he held his nerve and encouraged his side to hold possession and play in the Saints' half. This is a complete reverse of what Alan Curbishley would have done in the last few seasons as Charlton manager. He would have tried to shut up shop and take a point. Inevitably we would probably have put up a good showing but ultimately been beaten. Curbs would have used all of his defensive substitutions and Varney would only have come on for Iwelumo. At 0-0 with a minute on the clock, our lone forward would have been back in our box winning headers or at best hanging on the half-way line with the intrsuctions to head for the corner flag should he get the ball. Pardew's optimism won out here because we finally got our reward for being bold as the front two combined for the winner.

A similar tale for the City game too. Curbishley would have become concerned midway through the second half when City finally got a spell of pressure and cretaed some chances. He would have seen the threat to his point and we would have seen a defensive substitution as we retreated back to defend the draw. The point was obviously still in Pardew's mind but he was judging the game based upon our showing and could see we were holding own own despite City waking up and he held his nerve in pressing forward. He had changed already at half-time to a more attacking formation and it was working well, so why change it. I am sure we would have held on and deservedly claimed our point if we hadn't scored, but fortune favours the brave.

The players he brought in aren't Premiership quality but we paid Championship prices and Darren Bent's sale funded the lot. Buliding a complete squad from scratch with limited funds and competing pretty much from the off is a remarkable achievement. It owes everything to Pardew's knowledge and judgement of players and of this division. Maintaining that challenge and overcoming set-backs are the really hard parts and that comes from having the management skills and personality to re-organise and re-motivate your team.

Yes, I am an unashamed Pardew fan. It's hard to argue against the evidence. Long may it continue.

Southampton 0 v Charlton Athletic 1

Overdue some good fortune and a decent referring performance, Charlton got neither today at St. Mary's as they had to play for 55 minutes with ten men. However, they put in a battling performance and thoroughly deserved their late Iwelumo winner.

Charlton started with a quick-supporting 4-5-1 formation. Luke Varney was dropped in favour of a five man midfield with Sam, Semedo, Reid, Zheng Zhi and Thomas supporting the lone Iwelumo. The back four was the same that finished against QPR with Mills, Sodje, Fortune and Basey protecting Nicky Weaver.

The Addicks began brightly enough forcing a couple of corners and duly missed their best opportunity of the half when Sam Sodje's header from Reid's corner hit the bar after six minutes. Weaver saved smartly from Stern John before Jose Semedo was booked for a foul on Idiakez. The game was open and attacking. Andy Reid was prompting for Charlton and John, Wright-Philips and Viafara were combining well upfront for the Saints. Phil Ifil was booked for a foul on Thomas and Lloyd Sam followed him minutes later. On 35 minutes, Referree Hill decided to book Semedo again for an unnecessary tackle on Viafara. It was a harsh decision bearing in mind he was already on a yellow but the red card was flashed quickly enough and Charlton's chances of a win looked to have disappeared.

Unsurprisingly, Southampton finished the half strongly with Viafara shooting over after good work from John and Wright-Philips. John then missed a gilt-edge chance firing wide from 8 yards. In between, a Zheng Zhi break found Lloyd Sam but the youngster failed to hit the target by blasting over.

Charlton started the second half playing deeper and being urged on by the 2200 Addicks behind the goal. They were still looking to break whenever they could but were vulnerable to the counter-attack when they did so. Christian Dailly went off for treatment, giving Charlton parity and the open game of the first 35 minutes returned with both sides pressing. Zheng Zhi missed a sitter from seven yards out after Sodje knocked on a Mills throw in. Wright-Philips skated through the Charlton defence and only a last ditch block by Jon Fortune prevented Southampton from taking the lead. Dailly eventually returned after about 12 minutes but Charlton continued to take the game to Southampton. Andy Reid collected a pass from a Thomas run on the left after 70 minutes and his shot flew inches wide.

Zheng Zhi was booked for back-heeling the ball away after the referree had blown for a free-kick - another careless card. Moutaouakil was the first Charlton substitute as Charlton continued to match the Saints. On 80 minutes the home fans were becoming restless as Charlton continued to dominate. Grant Basey hit the side netting when he latched onto a corner and the Charlton faithful thought they had done it. Substitute Varney had a header tipped over the bar but Charlton weren't to be denied and Varney found Iwelumo six yards and his header beat Kelvin Davies.

This was a fine team performance. The back-four kept the first clean sheet against Southampton this season. Sam and Basey had very solid performances. Mills and Fortune stood up too and we can expect an unchanged defence at City on Tuesday. Reid and Zheng Zhi carried the game to Southampton when Charlton broke but we didn't get as much from Thomas or Sam as we might have expected. Iwelumo played his lone striker role well enough but it needed the injection of his strike partner to win the game.

The losing run has been stopped and Charlton can now travel to Bristol City with confidence on Tuesday. We're up to 4th and a win against City on Tuesday will put us within two points of them.

Up the Addicks!

Charlton Athletic 0 v QPR 1

A disastrous week was capped today at the Valley with the poorest performance of the season and an embarrassing defeat by bottom-of-the-table QPR. Once again Charlton produced a stadium-emptying display for a watching nation on Sky television.

QPR were good value for the win and they should have had the winner even earlier in the second half having missed a penalty and an open goal. They were hardworking but their win was handed to them on a plate by a disinterested Charlton side. Varney and Iwelumo mis-fired throughout and our midfield was all over the place. Reid was subduded on the left in the first half and failed to up the tempo when he came into the middle after Semedo was substituted. Lloyd Sam had a poor game on his return from a three match ban but did come closest to scoring for the Reds with a second half free kick which Lee Camp pushed out.

The back four were again a major disappointment. Alan Pardew at least took some positive action after the midweek display by dropping Bougherra and starting Sodje at the back with Fortune for the first time. He also gave Grant Basey a debut at left-back and he was probably the only Charlton player to emerge with any credit. Sodje made two superb last ditch tackles but Fortune cantered through the game and again made several howlers, worst of which was his mis-timed tackle which gave Rangers their penalty. Turned inside out he waited until his opponent got into the box before bringing his man down. The resultant penalty was slammed off an upright by Rowlands and that should have been the wake-up call Charton needed but no-one looked that bothered and you knew what was coming.

Minutes later and Danny Mills, who looked more interested than the rest, was far too casual in the box and lost the ball to a Rangers player who amazingly failed to hit the target. They didn't have to wait too much longer though, another raid on the left saw Vine curl a deep cross which Weaver came for but never looked like getting. Weaver collided with Sodje and Nygaard, and went down looking for a free-kick as the ball fell to Bolder who fired home. There was still plenty of time left but we hadn't shown any urgency all day and continued at a pedestrian rate.

Alan Pardew should be furious after this performance but it's hard to see what options he has. Thomas came on for Semedo but failed to create anything and Izale Mcleod didn't touch the ball after coming on for Iwelumo with a good 15 minutes left. What we need is an international break but the last one doesn't seem to have done us any good. Two away games now look very difficult and we face running out a mid-table side in the next home game. The bubble has well and truly burst and we have a lot of hard work to do to turn this around.