Michail Antonio kept alive Southampton's play-off hopes with the only goal and dented Charlton's automatic promotion bid in a 1-0 home win.

Antonio struck in the 34th minute at the end of a sharp move involving Jason Puncheon and finished with a right-foot shot from 15 yards. Antonio, on loan from Reading, celebrated his first league goal and gave Southampton the initiative in a hard-fought encounter.

Southampton's other hero was their goalkeeper Kelvin Davis who made three outstanding saves, all of them from Charlton captain Nick Bailey.

Davis turned over a Bailey header in the ninth minute and then again in first-half stoppage time. Bailey was also denied in the 57th minute with a goal-bound shot which the goalkeeper pushed to safety.

Southampton's leading scorer Rickie Lambert almost added to his 31 goals just after half-time but his header was cleared from the line by Lloyd Sam.

Charlton manager Phil Parkinson used all three substitutes in a desperate bid to snatch a draw and one of them, Dave Mooney, might have levelled in the last minute but could not get his shot on target.