Norwich kept alive their hopes of beating the drop when Mathias Svensson came off the bench to strike a late winner and beat his old club Charlton at Carrow Road.

A tight Barclays Premiership encounter appeared to be heading towards a goalless draw when the Swede volleyed in from close range following a throw-in on the left.

The Canaries have now won their last three home matches, but stay in the relegation zone because of Crystal Palace's win over Liverpool.

After a cagey opening, David Bentley sent over a deep cross to the far post in the fifth minute, but Mattias Jonson was not able to get over the ball, and his header was easily collected by Dean Kiely.

At the other end, Jonatan Johansson almost collected Radostin Kishishev's centre at the edge of the box after a neat one-two between the Bulgarian and Francis Jeffers.

In the 19th minute, a chip into the Norwich area found Johansson, who got to the by-line and his cut-back was sent over the bar by Danny Murphy, under pressure from Damien Francis.

Thomas Helveg then went into the referee's book for pulling back the Finland forward.

Talal El Karkouri received the same treatment after upending Leon McKenzie just in from the left by-line in the 23rd minute.

On the half-hour, in-form Dean Ashton, with four goals in the last three games, turned his marker to create a shooting chance some 25 yards out, but this time the £3million man blasted the ball high and wide, before Bentley did the same from similar range.

There was plenty of effort from both teams, yet without really making any progress in the final third.

With 37 minutes gone, Ashton's perfectly-weighted chip got Bentley in behind the Charlton defence on the right and to the by-line, with his cross then hacked away by Jon Fortune.

The pace of the match then dropped somewhat, with Charlton's five-man midfield holding the ball well.

Norwich's best chance of the first half came in the final minute, when Robert Green's long punt up field was flicked on and into the box by McKenzie.

Ashton held off Kishishev, but as the ball ran loose in front of him eight yards out, the in-form striker dragged the ball just wide of Kiely's left-hand post.

Charlton forced a couple of corners at the start of the second half, before Green got down well to beat away Karkouri's angled left-foot drive from the edge of the penalty area in the 51st minute.

Johansson then clattered into Bentley on the right touchline, and was fortunate not to be cautioned. The delivery from the resulting free-kick was, though, poor by the on-loan Arsenal midfielder.

When the ball was eventually flashed into the Norwich box, it was just too far ahead of Johansson, stretching to make contact on the six-yard line.

In the 61st minute, Charlton sent on Jason Euell for Brian Hughes, before Norwich then introduced Darren Huckerby for Jonson.

Dennis Rommedahl twisted into the box and tried to beat Green with a curling effort with the outside of his right boot, but the England squad man was equal to it.

Then Francis got half a yard of space just outside the box, but his well-struck shot was straight at Kiely.

In the 65th minute, Bentley volleyed an angled ball across the penalty area, where a diving McKenzie managed to get a head to it, but there was too much pace on the cross-cum-shot for the striker to steer the ball on target.

Then the Charlton keeper decided to pick up a pass back from Fortune, conceding an in-direct free-kick on the right corner of the six-yard box. Kiely redeemed himself, though, when bravely charging down Ashton's close-range effort at his near post.

In the 70th minute, there was a stoppage in play when Helveg and Bentley collided accidentally near the right touchline, clashing heads. Thankfully, both men were soon back on their feet.

Youssef Safri netted a spectacular strike in Wednesday night's 2-1 win over Newcastle, and sent a drive just over in the 75th minute when the loose ball dropped to him on the edge of the box.

Svensson came on for Bentley with 10 minutes to go as Nigel Worthington looked to win the match before the visitors sent on Jerome Thomas in place of Johansson.

Kiely made a fine block to deny Svensson late on, before Murphy's free-kick was deflected onto the post off Ashton.

And just when it seemed both sides would have to settle for a point, Svensson volleyed home an 87th-minute winner after the ball had bobble around in the Charlton six-yard box to keep the Canaries' Premiership dream alive.

Teams

Norwich Green, Helveg, Fleming, Shackell, Drury, Jonson (Huckerby 63), Safri, Francis, Bentley (Svensson 80), McKenzie (Holt 90), Ashton.

Subs Not Used: Brennan, Ward.

Booked: Helveg.

Goals: Svensson 88.

Charlton Kiely, Kishishev, El Karkouri, Fortune, Young, Rommedahl, Holland, Murphy, Hughes (Euell 62), Johansson (Thomas 82), Jeffers.

Subs Not Used: Perry, Lisbie, Andersen.

Booked: El Karkouri.

Att: 25,459

Ref: M Atkinson (W Yorkshire).