Division One leaders Charlton strengthened their grip at the top of the table and took revenge for their FA Cup quarter-final exit at the hands of Bolton thanks to a late, late show at the Reebok Stadium.

Bolton, missing three regulars in Eidur Gudjohnsen, Ricardo Gardner and Dean Holden, put up a brave fight until 10 minutes from time when two well-taken strikes inside a minute secured victory for Alan Curbishley's pace-setters.

Supersub Martin Pringle, on as a second-half replacement for Mathias Svensson, made the breakthrough when he sprinted through from midfield before slotting the ball past Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Before Bolton had time to dust themselves off, the Addicks were on the offensive again, this time Andy Hunt breaking through Wanderers' otherwise respectable rearguard and shrugging off the challenge of Mark Fish before smashing the ball home to secure three points.

Charlton outlined their attacking intentions from the outset, piling the pressure on Bolton's reshuffled defensive ranks.

Shaun Newton was a threat throughout the first period with his darting runs into danger areas, while Hunt and Svensson looked determined to pounce on anything that moved.

But Bolton looked equally potent in attack - Bob Taylor could have done better with a superb Michael Johansen corner kick than tamely heading it into Dean Kiely's arms.

Franck Passi came close to unlocking the visitors' defence when he rattled the crossbar with a thunderous 20-yard strike - but the ball ricocheted harmlessly out of play.

Frustrations began to boil over in the closing stages of the first half as first Robbie Elliott went into the referee's book for a late challenge on Svensson and then Dean Holdsworth and Richard Rufus were shown yellow cards for a minor altercation.

The second half saw even fewer clear-cut opportunities than the first, and it took the visitors 15 minutes to create enough space for Chris Powell to try his luck with a long-range strike that drifted high and wide.

On 69 minutes Paul Konchesky played a great through ball for the advancing Hunt, but he too blasted over the bar.

A couple of minutes later Holdsworth was only inches from opening Bolton's account with a well-placed lob that just cleared the bar.

But just when the match looked destined to finish goalless Charlton stepped up a gear and twice capitalised on Wanderers' sleeping back four.

Teams:

Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Bergsson, Ritchie, Fish, Elliott, Johansen, Passi (Kaprielian 84), Jensen, Johnston (Nolan 84), Holdsworth, Taylor (Hansen 69).

Subs Not Used: Banks, O'Kane.

Booked: Elliott, Holdsworth, Ritchie.

Charlton: Kiely, Barness, Rufus, Brown, Powell (Tiler 81), Newton, Stuart, Kinsella, Robinson (Konchesky 48), Svensson (Pringle 69), Hunt.

Subs Not Used: Royce, Barbe.

Booked: Rufus.

Goals: Pringle 80, Hunt 81.

Att: 15,000

Ref: P Dowd (Stoke-on-Trent).