Powell confident of Cup run

Charlton are confident of making light work of Walsall or Bradford in the fourth round of the FA Cup, despite a narrow escape against Second Division strugglers Blackpool.

England left-back Chris Powell said after Saturday's 2-1 triumph: "Our confidence is sky high at the moment and just to get someone here at The Valley is all we want."

Yet it took two goals in the final 16 minutes on Saturday to overcome Steve McMahon's Blackpool, who took a 19th-minute lead through defender John Hills.

Charlton's pressure finally told when Graham Stuart scored from the penalty spot in the 74th minute after Brian Reid was ruled to have handled.

They then hit the winner two minutes later when Jason Euell bagged his third goal in three games.

After an indifferent start to the season, Charlton have started to reproduce the form that saw them pushing for a place in Europe last campaign, and Powell thinks their is more to come from the south London side.

"Our form in the league has picked up after an upanddown start to the season," he said. "Alan Curbishley said early on that he never had the chance to pick from a fully-fit squad, but now we've started showing what we can do. We've had a good run either side of Christmas and there are important players such as Mark Kinsella and Richard Rufus about to come back."

However, Charlton's South African striker Shaun Bartlett will miss the fourthround tie if he decides to play in the African Nations Cup, which starts in a fortnight.

Meanwhile, defender Danny Shittu is on the verge of completing a £350,000 move to Queens Park Rangers.

The 21-year-old's contract with the Premiership club expires at the end of the season and he has just started his third month on loan at Loftus Road.