A Frederic Bulot double gave Charlton a hard-fought win against an in-form Nottingham Forest side at The Valley on Tuesday night.

The Gabonese international’s brace was enough to secure all three points for Guy Luzon’s side after being dominated by the away side for large parts in what was their toughest test since their return to form.

Both sides came into the match full of confidence as Charlton had won three of their last four while Forest had only lost one of their last five away matches.

The win now sees the Addicks firmly rooted in mid-table in 12th place, 14 points above Millwall in the last relegation place and 15 points off the play-offs.

Bulot gave the home side an early lead in the seventh minute when he took over the free-kick duties from the injured Johann Gudmundsson to curl a 25-yard effort into the top corner.

Tony Watt won the free-kick after a great run to evade the Forest defence, he slightly over ran the ball but got the touch before Danny Collins and drew the foul for Bulot to give the Addicks a great start.

This lead lasted all of seven minutes before Michael Antonio scored one of the best solo goals of the season to pull the sides level. Antonio picked up the ball just inside the Charlton half and had Lawrie Wilson and Callum Harriott doubling up on him to stop him cutting inside to his right foot.

The Forest winger made it look easy and ghosted past the two Charlton players and was able to thread it between the centre-backs into the bottom corner.

Bulot restored the Addicks lead in the 38th minute after a nice passage of play from the home side. Watt slipped in Wilson who caught Antonio napping from his defensive duties. He cross was cut back to the Gabonese international who smashed the ball past Darlow from 10 yards.

The home side started and ended the first half the stronger of the two sides, making the most of their chances by putting away two of their three shots on target.

Nottingham Forest dictated play during the rest of the half and should have scored more than just the one with the opportunities that came their way.

Forest’s key player was Michael Antonio who ran Lawrie Wilson ragged at right-back and should have added at least one more to his first half tally. The best of these chances came in the 34th minute when he turned Wilson from a Danny Fox throw. He had space on the edge of the box and forced Henderson into a tough save with a shot to his near post.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, the home side starting the stronger before Forest settled into their rhythm and dominated for large spells but no further goals were added.

Charlton did manage to cope with the Antonio threat better by moving 17-year-old Joe Gomez to right-back to make the away side look for other options.

The closest they came was in the 62nd minute when Ben Osborn came agonisingly close. He received the ball 40 yards from the Charlton goal, drove forward and when the home side backed off he took an opportunity to bend a shot into the corner but missed by a matter of inches.

The rest of the second half saw few chances for the Addicks but Watt had a chance to put the result beyond doubt two minutes from time. He managed to get on the end of Christophe Lepoint’s cross but Darlow managed to pull off a good save low to his right.

The home side finished the game strongly in front of a buoyant crowd to make the 13-game winless run that only ended five matches ago a distant memory.

Charlton: Henderson, Wilson (Bikey-Amougou 45mins), Gomez, Bulot, Harriott (Eagles 45mins), Diarra, Vetokele (Lepoint 87mins), Buyens, Fox, Cousins, Watt. Subs not used: Dmitrovic, Church, Lennon, Ahearne-Grant.