Division One: Charlton Athletic 1 Blackburn Rovers 2 - Andy Neild's verdict

ASHLEY Ward could be forgiven for thinking it was going to be another one of those nights when a black cat suddenly appeared on the pitch at The Valley last night.

But the feline visitor turned out to be a lucky omen for the Rovers striker who ended his goal drought and settled an old score with a brilliant brace.

Not much has gone right for the bustling forward since he was denied a blatant penalty when these two sides clashed in a crucial relegation scrap at the back end of last season.

That decision effectively sent Rovers down and they have struggled to come to terms with life in the Nationwide League ever since.

But Ward exacted his revenge in the best possible way last night, jubilantly banging home the goals which stretched Rovers impressive unbeaten run to five matches under caretaker boss Tony Parkes.

And, as the Ewood club showed further signs of turning the corner, it was Charlton manager Alan Curbishley who was this time left to feel hard done by after another controversial decision.

In fact, had the Addicks boss come across that stray black cat in the car park after the game he would have surely felt like kicking it.

For there was more than a hint of offside surrounding Ward's early opener which set Rovers on their way.

And he then had to watch in agony as Irish international Alan Kelly produced a cat-like performance of his own with some late heroics to prevent Athletic from snatching a point.

But they say you make your own luck in football and Rovers certainly earned theirs thanks to another tireless display. Yet this second away win of the season was as much a result of inspiration as perspiration.

Ward will grab all the plaudits after doubling his tally for the season in the space of 37 minutes.

But Kelly was also outstanding, pulling off a string of fine saves.

And central defensive duo Darren Peacock and Christian Dailly emerged with great credit after a performance as water-tight as the neighbouring Thames Barrier.

But this was an all-round team effort and the way Parkes has got everyone scrapping for the cause as if their lives depended upon it, is the main reason why they've turned the tide.

Parkes has gone on record as saying all caretaker managers enjoy a honeymoon period before performances start to level off.

The way things are going at the minute, however, there's no sign of that happening just yet.

Charlton had only lost once in their last six games and that was against league-leaders Manchester City.

A win would have taken them to the top of the table.

But Rovers are also starting to live up to their pre-season tag as possible promotion candidates.

Yet in a frenetic opening, Athletic missed two golden chances early on.

First, Mark Kinsella's shot from outside the box took a wicked deflection and landed at the feet of Shaun Newton but he fired straight at Kelly.

Then Andy Hunt headed just over from a Kinsella free kick.

But it was Rovers who took the lead in controversial circumstances on 10 minutes.

Damien Duff intercepted a pass out on the left and dropped the ball over the Charlton defence to Ward, who looked well offside, but the flag stayed down and the Rovers striker cooly lobbed keeper Dean Kiely.

That sparked furious protests, and as the home side struggled to keep their composure, Egil Ostenstad nearly punished them again but shot straight at Kiely. When the dust did settle, Athletic began to pepper the Rovers goal.

Kelly misjudged a Kinsella corner and Grayson had to hack away the danger inside the six-yard box.

Kinsella miskicked in front of a gaping net after a dangerous centre from the right.

Then a Steve Brown piledriver struck Grayson on the edge of the box and looped over Kelly but struck the bar.

Charlton's almost incessant pressure finally paid off in first half stoppage time, however, and it was danger-man Newton who did the damage.

Richard Rufus whipped over a centre from the right, Hunt nodded the ball down and Newton belted a scorching left-footer past Kelly from the edge of the box which fairly whistled into the roof of the net.

But the second half was only two minutes old before Ward and Rovers wiped out that strike.

Grayson found Ostenstad with a raking through ball on the right-hand side of the box and, though the Norwegian's shot was parried by Kiely, Ward raced in to stick away the rebound.

It was backs to the wall stuff for the visitors after that.

Kelly smothered a close-range effort from Hunt after great vision from Clive and the same man also went close with a cross-shot.

Darren Peacock did head narrowly wide in a rare attack at the other end.

But Rovers had Kelly to thank for two instinctive stops in the dying minutes.

The Sheffield United stopper somehow clawed away a goal-bound effort from Hunt and then denied the same player with an even better save from a header in a stirring finale.

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