Hat-trick hero Andy Hunt made a triumphant return to his former home county to
keep Charlton flying high at the top of Division One.
Hunt opened the scoring against the run of play just before the break and then
struck twice in the space of five minutes late in the second half to secure a
sixth successive league win for Alan Curbishley's side.
But the margin of victory certainly flattered the visitors and had Norwich
managed to capitalise on their early domination the outcome could have been very
different.
But at the end of the day it was the ability to convert chances that proved to
be the difference between the two sides with Hunt showing the Norwich strikers
how it should be done on his old stamping ground.
The Charlton front man played amateur football in Norfolk in his teens and
actually had an unsuccessful trial at Carrow Road in the early nineties - and he
certainly showed what the Canaries have missed out on as he maintained
Charlton's seemingly irresistible surge back to the Premiership.
He opened the scoring on 42 minutes, sidefooting home Graham Stuart's
in-swinging corner from close range, his half-volley going in off the crossbar.
The Addicks top scorer then struck again on 73 minutes to put the game beyond
the battling home side.
Robinson was again the provider, his astute ball from the halfway line putting
his colleague in the clear.
Hunt's first-time effort went through the half-hearted block of keeper Andy
Marshall before trickling into the net.
Four minutes later Hunt's triumph, and Norwich's misery, was complete as the
in-form frontman made it 3-0, nodding home a right wing cross from Robinson who
thus completed a hat-trick of assists.
Those late goals were rough justice on the Canaries who had dominated the
early stages against a strangely out-of-sorts Charlton, who seemed to be
struggling to get to grips with the late withdrawal of skipper Mark Kinsella
with a stomach bug.
Keeper Dean Kiely made four good stops before the break, the pick of those
coming on 19 minutes when he dived bravely at the feet of Iwan Roberts during a
frantic goalmouth scramble.
Five minutes later the Norwich top scorer wasted his side's clearest chance of
the match as he sidefooted wide of an open goal after Chris Llewellyn had nodded
Adrian Forbes' cross into his path.
Norwich continued to look the better side until Charlton broke the deadlock
and also had chances to draw level in the second half with Graham Stuart being
required to hack a Matt Jackson header off the line midway through the half.
But Charlton's defence, with Richard Rufus superb, weathered the storm and
Hunt's late brace took his side four points clear at the top.
Teams
Norwich: A. Marshall, Sutch, Mackay, Jackson, Kenton, Forbes,
Carey (L. Marshall 76), Russell, Fuglestad (Dalglish 76),
Roberts, Llewellyn.
Subs Not Used: Green, Coote, Anselin.
Charlton: Kiely, Shields, Rufus, Brown, Powell, Newton, Stuart,
Todd, Robinson, Hunt, Pringle.
Subs Not Used: Ilic, Konchesky, MacDonald, Salako, Parker.
Goals: Hunt 42, 73, 78.
Att: 15,642
Ref: M Jones (Chester).
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