Powell praises battling Addicks

Charlton manager Chris Powell hailed his table-topping side's effort after a hard-fought 1-0 win over promotion rivals Sheffield United.

Addicks skipper Johnnie Jackson rifled in a free-kick to settle the contest in the hosts' favour, moving them seven points clear of the Blades at the summit. The win was marred by two red cards late on when substitutes Darel Russell and James Beattie saw red for their respective sides.

Powell said: "It was an outstanding performance by my boys - very committed, full of character and we played a good team who I felt settled in well at the beginning of the game."

He added: "But we grew into it and it took a special moment again similar to last week to win us the game.

"Sheffield United have been on a terrific run and they're led by a good manager who knows his way around football management. It was a real test for us and maybe it was just a little bit the other way.

"Normally we dominate games and we are always on the front foot, but I felt we were really tested on the other side - to be really resilient in the face of a decent team."

Blades manager Danny Wilson was keen to concentrate on the positives.

He said: "We fully deserved something out of the game, I thought we were fantastic for large parts of that game.

"I'm disappointed with a couple of efforts we had, we had a couple of opportunities which fell our way which we haven't taken advantage of.

"But overall I thought it was a great performance by us. If we can play like that between now and the end of the season we won't go far wrong."