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Turf Moor looked empty as the teams were announced looking like many fans did not fancy risking it with the bad conditions.
The fans that did make the game certainly made some noise over one announcement ' Number 9 Andy Gray'. Boos rang around the Turf as former striker Gray was announced in the starting 11 for Charlton, his first appearance back at Burnley after leaving in January in unhappy circumstances.
Burnley started the game well with some very nice passes in and around Charlton and created their first opening soon after kick off when Alan Mahon's cross was headed over by James O'Connor.
Wade Elliott and Kyle Lafferty were both looking sharp on the wings, whipping in some decent crosses but without finding anyone able to turn one in.
Charlton rarely created much with Andy Gray being pulled back for numerous fouls, which many of the Burnley fans enjoyed. The Clarets were starting to put the pressure on with Andrew Cole finding Wade Elliott with a lovely pass for him to win a corner, the corner itself despite looking promising with Blake and Elliott playing a nice one two came to nothing.
Back from injury Alan Mahon was pulling all the strings in midfield by distributing the ball very well around the pitch, Robbie Blake almost had a helping hand in the opening goal when a dangerous cross was well headed out for corner by a Charlton defender.
Gabor Kiraly in Burnley goal seemed a spectator, but in the blink of an eye Charlton nearly took the lead after poor defending allowed Jerome Thomas to burst into the box only to blast the ball over the bar. It seemed to have woken Charlton up as they tried to put Burnley under pressure with free kicks and corners, but Burnley's defence stayed strong.
The only real chance Charlton had was when Darren Ambrose produced a decent save from Gabor Kiraly who dived down to his right hand side to claim the ball.
The half time whilst blew with neither side creating much in very wet and windy conditions and I had a feeling that the one goal might win it for either side.
The second half started with Burnley being very wasteful with Clarke Carlisle giving away possession too easily, Charlton were the first to create a chance with Andy Gray having a shot on goal only for it to fly miles over yet again to the home crowd's delight. The Burnley fans nearly had egg on their faces when Gray broke through one on one with Kiraly only for a fantastic challenge to stop him scoring. It was a really good challenge on Gray who I felt sure would end his run of games without scoring, and not long after they missed another great chance when Sam Sodje was left un-marked from about 8 yards only for him to head the ball into the ground and over from the corner kick.
However it was Burnley who made the breakthrough and what a goal it was. Robbie Blake placed the ball through the defender's legs, Wade Elliott took the ball in his stride and on his left foot smacked the ball from about 25 yards into the top corner. Burnley 1-0 up! It's been a part of Wade's game that we have not seen much of but with goals like that its worth waiting.
After that goal his Burnley teammates seemed to want to join in with first Jon Harley hitting a good shot just over the bar and then Alan Mahon hitting one just wide of the post. Mahon soon replaced by John Spicer had had a great game and hopefully can stay injury free till the end of the season.
Despite the Burnley defence looking strong you were always worried that with just a one goal lead that Charlton would score and they were almost gifted a goal when somehow Gabor Kiraly dropped the ball under a bit of pressure of Leroy Lita, luckily the ball broke to Stan Varga who hoofed it away to safety.
Charlton trying to save the game made a couple of changes with Darren Ambrose being replaced by Luke Varney and Andy Gray who was booed off the pitch by the Burnley fans was replaced by Chris Iwelumo.
It was the Clarets however who kept the pressure up, after a good build up play Blake cleverly set Jon Harley away on the wing with a smart back heel, Harley then found Lafferty in the box whose shot was well saved by Nicky Weaver.
Lafferty again troubled the Charlton defence as he somehow controlled the ball on the floor after falling over, he then went on to fire a shot just over the cross bar. Ade Akinbiyi replaced Andrew Cole who had yet again had another good game in claret and blue. Robbie Blake then came close to scoring as he picked the ball up just inside the box as he managed to turn and shoot only for it to go straight at Weaver.
Burnley were then inches away from a 2nd goal when a good Elliott cross was headed out for a corner just as Lafferty was ready to knock it in from close range.
At the back Burnley were looking a tad nervous in the late stages of the game with Blake giving the ball to Zheng Zhi who had a shot after good skill on the edge of the box only for it to fly miles wide. Burnley were living dangerously as the ball flew into the air off Carlisle it then found Varney unmarked but with the goal gaping he headed wide by some distance.
Robbie Blake made way for Mark Randall as the Clarets looked to see the game through and as Charlton pressed in the dying minutes they never came up with a real goal scoring chance with Ben Thatcher blasting a cross into the home stand.
The full time whistle sounded to a huge roar from the Turf Moor faithful who had seen their team jump to just 1 point off the play offs. With Wolves at home on Saturday a win there would give us a great chance to make that top 6!