Fulham 2-1 Charlton

Boa Morte scored his sixth and seventh goals of the season

Fulham eased fears of being dragged back into the relegation mire with victory over Charlton in a lively end-to-end encounter at Craven Cottage.

Luis Boa Morte opened the scoring for the hosts on the quarter-hour mark when his free-kick embarrassed Charlton keeper Thomas Myhre at the near post.

Jason Euell's close-range header put Charlton level, before Boa Morte's low strike across goal made it 2-1.

Antti Niemi denied the Addicks a share of the points with two saves late on.

Charlton looked like they had shaken off the heartache of losing their FA Cup quarter-final replay at Middlesbrough in midweek by starting well.

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But it was Fulham that went closest to breaking the deadlock when Zat Knight sent a header flashing past Myhre's post from a Simon Elliott corner after 15 minutes.

The hosts started to turn up the tempo and took the lead on 14 minutes when Boa Morte's free-kick from wide on the right embarrassed rooted-to-the-spot Myhre at his near post.

Charlton, though, managed to draw level on 26 minutes when Euell scored his first goal of the season.

Niemi managed to palm away an inswinging corner from Darren Ambrose, but when Hermann Hreidarsson sent the rebound straight into his path, Euell's clever header diverted the ball past the bamboozled keeper.

The visitors almost scored a second straight from the restart when Darren Bent saw his effort blocked by the feet of Niemi and the Addicks were made to rue this chance when the hosts regained the lead on the half-hour mark.

Heidar Helguson's flick-on was collected by Boa Morte and after running at Charlton's backline, the Portugese international found enough space to drill a right-foot effort across the face of goal and past the outstretched arm of Myhre.

Charlton nearly responded again, this time through Darren Bent but the England international could only look on as his looping header bounced twice on top of the crossbar.

The visitors were the livelier of the two sides in the opening stages of the second half and went close when Matt Holland's shot from the edge of the area was headed clear by Pape Bouba Diop.

Charlton attempted to get back into the match by throwing on Jay Boothroyd and putting Fulham on the back foot as the game progressed.

But the hosts showed why they have one of the best home records outside the top-six in the Premiership by remaining resolute at the back.

Marcus Bent went closest to equalising when his rasping right-foot effort was brilliantly dealt with by Niemi before the keeper denied Hreidarsson from scoring with a close-range header late on.

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Fulham assistant boss Steve Kean
"We hope that is enough for us.

"This win puts more daylight between us and the other teams down there.

"We knew it was going to be difficult against Charlton, but we hope the win is going to be enough, it sets us up for the last four games."

Charlton boss Alan Curbishley
"We've definitely done enough to get something from the game, but if you concede two goals like we have you won't.

"Fulham have a great home record, but I thought we did enough to get a result.

"The goals we conceded were avoidable and we're back to conceding goals and chasing the game."

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Fulham: Niemi, Rosenior, Knight, Pearce, Bridge, Malbranque, Diop, Elliott (Christanval 63), Boa Morte, Helguson, McBride.
Subs Not Used: Crossley, Volz, Radzinski, John.

Goals: Boa Morte 15, 30.

Charlton: Myhre, Spector, Sorondo, Perry, Hreidarsson Kishishev (Thomas 60), Holland (Bothroyd 80), Euell, Ambrose, Marcus Bent, Darren Bent.
Subs Not Used: Andersen, Powell, Sankofa.

Goals: Euell 26.

Att: 19,146

Ref: M Atkinson (W Yorkshire).