Pelle Mattsson scored his first goal in English football as Norwich City returned to winning ways by beating Charlton at The Valley.

The Danish midfielder found the far corner with a curling fifth-minute effort and it proved enough to enable the Canaries to bounce back from their midweek defeat at Southampton and make it five victories in six league games.

Apart from that setback at St Mary's, they have been one of the division's form teams of late and the three points lifted them into the top 10 – having been next to bottom when Philippe Clement was appointed as head coach in November.

Charlton came closest to a reply when Kayne Ramsay hit the bar with a header, and Sonny Carey was inches away from an equaliser in added time, but they suffered defeat at home for the seventh time this season.

The home side welcomed Scotland international striker Lyndon Dykes back into their starting 11 after recovering from illness, while Norwich were without full-back Jack Stacey, who suffered a knock in their midweek defeat at Southampton.

The Canaries were soon in front as Ali Ahmed took on the home defence down the left before laying it back to Mattsson, who was given too much time and picked his spot beyond keeper Will Mannion from 20 yards.

Charlton did not heed their lesson and could have found themselves two down as Paris Maghoma cut inside to create a shooting opportunity for himself, but Mannion went down smartly to push it away.

It took the Addicks half an hour to test Vladan Kovacevic, but Lloyd Jones' header from a Harry Clarke cross was comfortable for the Norwich keeper.

Ahmed was prominent at the start of the second half and Mannion did just enough to foil him as the Canadian tried to get on the end of Mathias Kvistgaarden's ball across the box but Charlton were almost level when Ramsay's header following a corner struck the bar and Harry Clarke's follow-up was blocked.

Mannion remained the busier keeper, saving well from a deflected effort from Maghoma and then going down low to his left to deny Mattsson a second, but his earlier strike was enough to secure Norwich's eighth away win of the campaign.

They are now nine points outside the play-off places with seven games to play and will be at home to Portsmouth on Friday, 3 April, following the international break, while Charlton will host Bristol City.

Charlton Athletic manager Nathan Jones told BBC Radio London:

"We have to defend the goal better. We debrief, we tell them, we show them. That's really disappointing. Then we have enough situations in the final third to have created more than we did, but we lacked quality and composure.

"We hit the bar. We had so many situations and opportunities to cross and punish, but we don't. That's our learning curve. It's a tough league and we have to get better - whether that's more work or different personnel.

"There are unacceptable decisions again. Last week there was, in my opinion, a poor refereeing decision and it cost us. I have no doubt in my mind we'll get another apology for a baffling decision.

"If I do my job, and it goes to the timescales, then we're talking a few years for us to be competing and playing. We are competing with these, but on a different level resource-wise. We're not in the worst place but we want to push boundaries. If we develop in the next two years as we have the past two years, we'll be in a different position."

Norwich City boss Philippe Clement told BBC Radio Norfolk:

"It was a victory with a big heart, lots of physicality. We only came back at 3:00am on Thursday morning, so it was a short turnaround after the Southampton game - which was also a really intense game.

"The team did brilliantly today, not only physically but also mentally. They did the right things to stick in and keep going until the dying seconds. They played with a really big heart today.

"I think everybody who is not a Charlton fan would have enjoyed how Norwich played football today - our own fans but also neutrals, and that is what I want to see.

"With all the teams playing on Friday after the international window, I do not understand why that is the case. We might have some internationals who come back on the Thursday and might not even be able to train. It's not a healthy situation in this modern time, with so many more games and more risks of injury."