Charlton won a lack lustre game 1-0 at The Valley on Saturday afternoon.
Lyle Taylor scored what proved to be the decisive goal after 18 minutes, though their margin of victory should have been more decisive.
The win moved the Addicks to 12 points ahead of seventh placed Peterborough, albeit Posh have a game in hand.
Team wise, Joe Aribo, Naby Sarr & Jonnie Williams replaced Krystian Bielik, Darren Pratley and Jason Pearce, with the latter two dropping to the bench. They both came on as late substitutes to help see the game out.
The game started brightly, and it was no surprise when Taylor opened the scoring after 18 minutes.
The goal came after a sweeping move down the left. Sarr played the ball into Joe Aribo.
Aribo beat a defender and pulled the ball back for Taylor to slot home.
Charlton nearly doubled their lead five minutes later after Ben Purrington and Taylor combined to set up Igor Vetokele.
The Angolan striker looked sure to score, but Richard O’Donnell somehow kept his effort out.
The Addicks should have added to their lead shortly before the interval. A lovely move
Involving Aribo and Jonny Williams set up Taylor, but the leading scorer blasted over from six yards.
Bradford had their moments, and came closest to scoring ten minutes after the restart. As the ball bounced around the Charlton penalty area, David Ball got a shot away that struck the post.
This is how Lee Bowyer saw the game:
“At this stage of the season it doesn’t matter how you win, what the score is, you tick it off, you get the three points and move on.
“I thought we dominated the game really and they kept trying to hit us on the break. It wasn’t good for us, we were sloppy at times in possession and invited them to hit us on the break which I thought was stupid but apart from that our attitude was spot on. We could have had five or six ourselves.”
It was not a sparkling performance by any means, but the win extends the unbeaten home run to 14 games, stretching back to October.
Charlton: Phillips; Dijksteel, Bauer, Sarr, Purrington; Cullen, Reeves (Pratley, 78), Aribo, Williams (Fosu, 61); Taylor, Vetokele (Pearce, 90).
Subs (not used): Maxwell, Solly, Lapslie, Parker.
Goal: Taylor 18
Bradford City: O’Donnell; Caddis, P O’Connor, A O’Connor, Wood; Ball, Butterfield (Miller 86), Akpan (Wright 80), O’Brien; Anderson (Clarke 86), Doyle.
Subs (not used): Wilson, Chicksen, Knight-Percival, Devine
Referee: Martin Coy (County Durham).
Attn: 11,630 (716 Bradford).
TAGS: Charlton Athletic