Saints cruised through against The Addicks.
Alan Pardew surprisingly kept faith with the same outfield 10 who started the game against Bristol Rovers in the FA Cup in a 4-4-2 formation, the only change being a run out for Bart Bialkowski in goal.
From the off Saints dominated and they played a passing game whilst the visitors seemed content to play a long ball game.
Saints trouble though was getting the early goal and though they threatened they rarely tested the visiting keeper early doors, most efforts being off target.
The breakthrough came on 33 minutes and once again it was from a pinpoint corner from Lloyd James, straight across the six yard line and Wayne Thomas swept it home.
From then on it was a case of Saints keeping tight and putting away their chances, in the second half AP wisely decided to make changes and rest players, the first at half time bringing on Trotman for Scheiderlin was a big shuffle as Thomas moved to left back and James to centre mid, on 57 Waigo entered the fray and Saints went to 4-5-1, but it didnt alter the course of the game,Charlton battled gamely but Saints broke down their attacks with ease and broke with menace.
There was one scare when Bialkowski pulled off a great save at his near post, but the second goal was always going to be for Saints and on 63 minutes it was Lambert who got it.
Saints looked comfortable from then on, even a further change with Mellis coming on Antonio didnt affect the course of the game and Charlton's consolation in the 2nd minute of injury time was out of the blue, but too late to change the game.
In short Saints once again looked a class outfit agaisnt supposedly the 2nd best team in the division and even the second half changes didnt alter that.
On the down side Saints have to look to keep concentration right to the final whistle as once again they conceded a late goal.
Whilst the usual suspects like Lambert and Lallana caught the eye, perhaps its time to recognise the strength in depth the squad does have and some of the unsung heroes.
Lloyd james is becoming deadly at dead ball situation and is able to deliver some difficult balls, once again it was his accuracy that lead to the first goal, Waigo has been upstaged by Antonio in recent weeks, but he still remains a good player at this level and when he came on he worked hard and ensured that Dan Harding was not exposed, he tracked back and covered well on several occasions.
Lastly it was goood to see Bialkowski come into the side and look ssomething like the keeper he was a couple of seasons ago, in League 1 it is not about shot stopping but about dominating the box, our second goal emphasised that, Bialkowski came off his line and collected a through ball right on the edge of the area, it looked simple and indeed it was, but how many times do we see those balls lashed into the stand by a defender meaning the opposition still has the advantage, but on this occasion the keeper dealt with it easily, quickly through it out to Harding who worked it forward to Lallana who laid it to Lambert to put us two up, all this within 20 seconds of Bialkowski collecting. Im not advocating Bialkowski ahead of Davis, but it was good to see that we do have a keeper capable of putting the pressure on for the number 1 spot.