Yoni Buyens scores late penalty as Charlton recover to beat Cardiff

Yoni Buyens' late penalty snatched a 2-1 win for Charlton at Cardiff City, keeping the Addicks' recent revival going.

Buyens struck in the 87th minute - after Sean Morrison clumsily bundled over Simon Church in the penalty area - to seal the victory shortly after Tony Watt cancelled out Federico Macheda's opening goal for the Bluebirds.

The win was Charlton's fifth in their last six games and put the brakes on Cardiff's return to form.

Both sides came into this game having found some results to halt their steady slide down the Sky Bet Championship table following disastrous runs.

Cardiff, with two wins from their last three after going eight without success, dominated possession in the first half but were found wanting when it came to a scoring pass.

Kenwyne Jones was the worst offender, twice squandering opportunities to put clear Craig Noone and then Macheda in the space of four minutes.

They came either side of injury to captain Aron Gunnarsson that forced the Iceland midfielder off inside 30 minutes.

Charlton also struggled to get a foothold and the frustration for both sides boiled over as referee Patrick Miller brandished three yellow cards in the space of seven minutes before the interval.

The best chances came at either end of the half. Noone stepped inside three defenders before unleashing a powerful left-foot drive from outside the box that was tipped past the post by Stephen Henderson after just five minutes.

Charlton's keeper, who required regular treatment after falling awkwardly on his left ankle, was on hand once again to deny Conor McAleny from similar range in stoppage time.

It was Henderson's last contribution after he failed to emerge for the second half and Marko Dmitrovic took his place between the posts.

However, the Serb could do little to stop Macheda breaking the deadlock on 56 minutes. Noone's cross moments earlier had gone unfinished but his lob to the far post found the sizeable figure of Jones.

The striker rose to lay the ball into the path of Macheda, who fired in his seventh of the season.

But the arrival of Chris Eagles galvanised Charlton and changed the game. Playing on the left side of midfield, Eagles took less than a minute to fire Charlton's first shot on target after more than an hour.

Watt was denied a penalty when he was judged to have been fouled outside the box, but he was crucially left unmarked on the penalty spot moments later to finish Eagles' cross on 74 minutes.

Charlton were on the front foot and Buyens converted the winner after Morrison's late blunder to earn all three points.