Composed finishes from Brendan Wiredu and Hady Ghandour were enough to see Charlton’s U23s take all three points at Sparrows Lane on Thursday afternoon.
Jason Euell’s side were looking to bounce back after a frustrating exit from the Premier League Cup Earlier in the week when they took on Cardiff City in the league.
Wiredu came close in the early exchanges when he got his head on the end of a cross into the box but his effort was inadvertently knocked over the bar by the head of one of his own teammates.
Up the other end Nathan Harness was calm when, albeit rarely, called upon, judging brilliantly to beat Isaak Davies to a long through ball over the top.
in a half of Charlton dominance coming to a close, Wiredu broke the deadlock when he was able to run on to the end of a well picked pass by Ghandour and fire beyond the reach of Matt Hall in the Cardiff goal.
He almost bagged his second just moments later, curling a fine strike from the right side of the box only to be denied by the far post.
After the break, Harness was called upon again, getting down well to smother a half volley from Sion Spence as the Bluebirds rallied.
Cardiff were forcing a way back into the match and the pressure did finally pay off on 58 minutes when Ryan Kavanagh was fed through on the left and was able to squeeze his shot beyond Harness.
Their lead lasted all of three minutes though as up the other end Ghandour was able to keep his cool and slot home to put the hosts back in front.
The visitors hunted for a second equaliser as time ticked on, Rubin Colwill going close when he smartly swivelled on the spot only to see his well struck effort expertly blocked by a red shirt in the mouth of the goal.
Charlton had to dig in and defend well to deny Cardiff a late foothold in the game as the young Addicks picked up a valuable three points and leapfrog the Bluebirds to fourth in the league.
Charlton U23s: Harness, Yao, Clayden, Henry, Vega (Keefe 64), Powell, Quitirna (Williams 80), Morgan, Davison (Afrane-Kesey 90), Wiredu, Ghandour
Subs (Not Used): Harvey, Ness
Booked: Wiredu 63, Powell 77
Goals: Wiredu 43, Ghandour 61
Referee: A.A. Bola