Charlton 1 Bristol City 1

CHARLTON manager Alan Pardew conceded that the club were now outsiders in the race for the Championship's automatic promotion places after watching his side let slip an early lead against leaders Bristol City on Tuesday.

"There are 10 games to go and we're nine points behind so we're now outsiders - though we're not giving up," he said.

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"It was a missed opportunity because we had them where we wanted them in the first half.

"But they deserved to get something from the game. We kept giving the ball away in the second half and you can't afford to do that.

"We had some nervous moments and I thought a few players looked as though they were suffering from fatigue."

Darren Ambrose scored his ninth goal of the season and his third in as many games when he gave Charlton an eighth minute lead following slick approach play by Luke Varney and Kelly Youga.

Ambrose and Jerome Thomas both missed chances to have increased before City showed why they head the table by bossing the second half.

They gave Charlton a sound lesson in how to win and retain possession as the Addicks were forced to defend in depth.

They deservedly equalised in the 62nd minute when skipper Jamie McCombe scored his third goal in four games,heading in Lee Johnson's corner.

City nearly won the game in the 78th minute when Michael McIndoe's free-kick struck the Charlton crossbar.

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Charlton: Weaver; Halford, Sodje, McCarthy, Youga; Ambrose (Cook 88mins), Holland, Zheng, Thomas (Sinclair 76mins); Varney, Iwelumo (Gray 63mins).

Subs not used: Elliott, Thatcher.

Attendance: 24,075.