Championship round-up... Charlton's Ambrose at the double for Pardew

Two goals from the excellent Darren Ambrose and another for Chris Iwelumo earned Alan Pardew's team a position of dominance that was never threatened, even when Pablo Counago pulled one back with a smart finish 20 minutes from time.

A decent game was marred after the whistle,though,when a number of players squared up and Jon Fortune was shown a red card for violent conduct after apparently striking Alan Lee.

Charlton, beaten in their previous two home games, went ahead after five minutes. Lloyd Sam showed composure to release former Ipswich captain Matt Holland, making his 150th appearance for Charlton,and his cross was headed in by Ambrose at the far post.

Three minutes later, Ambrose combined quick thinking with good technique before turning to hook a volley just over the bar.

Ipswich have yet to win away, and it was not difficult to see why. Jim Magilton's team showed little in the way of imagination or, more worryingly, fight and were lucky not to concede a penalty when the ball struck Gary Roberts on the arm after 25 minutes.

Charlton did not have to wait long to increase their lead. A 30th-minute corner from Andy Reid on the right found goalkeeper Neil Alexander wanting and Iwelumo, the Championship's player of the month for November, carried on the good work into December with a simple header. It was his eighth goal for the club since joining from Colchester.

Magilton replaced Gavin Williams with Counago for tactical reasons and the Spaniard hit a post with only his second touch, only for an offside flag to go up.

But it did nothing to stem the red tide and Charlton went 3-0 up six minutes before the interval. A long ball down the middle was dealt with beautifully by Reid, who controlled it with one touch and laid it into Ambrose's path with the second. The striker finished with a firsttime shot from the edge of the area.

Manager Pardew had promised an improvement at The Valley and his men were delivering on that promise emphatically.

Ipswich trooped off to chants of 'what a load of rubbish' from their fans.

Magilton, who signed a new contract during the week and talked of a Premier League return, had what they call a big half-time on his hands.

As the rain poured down and a nearby display of fireworks provided a colourful backdrop to the resumption, Ipswich went at their opponents as a team trailing by three has to. They were handed an unlikely lifeline when the referee's assistant flagged for an apparent handball by Chris Powell inside the area but Nicky Weaver saved Lee's spot-kick.

When Tommy Miller hit the Charlton bar with a header, they knew it was not going to be their day.

Charlton were frustrated at the other end when Holland's shot was turned on to a post by Alexander and Ambrose's follow-up was ruled by referee Swarbrick to have struck Fabian Wilnis on the arm. A penalty was awarded,but this time the other assistant correctly informed Swarbrick that Wilnis had used his chest. Ipswich eventually pulled one back after 70 minutes when Counago cleverly back-heeled Lee's cross past Weaver.