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Jordan Rhodes scored twice as Blackburn Rovers beat Charlton Athletic to keep their faint play-off hopes alive.

Rhodes gave the visitors a 15th-minute lead when he collected Ben Marshall's long throw and scored from 15 yards.

Craig Conway's low strike made it 2-0. Charlton retaliated after the break through Yoni Buyens's penalty after Jason Steele's foul on Igor Vetokele.

But Rhodes headed in a third goal as Rovers recorded their third successive win.

The result means Blackburn, who were relegated from the Premier League in 2011-12, are 10th in the Championship, eight points behind sixth-placed Brentford with nine league games of the season left.

It was another clinical performance from Rhodes, recently linked with a move to Middlesbrough, who scored his 15th and 16th Championship goals of the season.

He has also now netted seven times in his last nine matches.

A side in form
Blackburn have lost only one of their last 10 games in all competitions. Their only defeat since early February was 2-1 against Norwich at home in the Championship on 24 February.

The visitors nearly took the lead inside two minutes but Alex Baptiste narrowly shot wide from 35 yards. Chris Brown headed just over and Rhodes shot off target before the Scotland international opened the scoring after quick thinking from Marshall.

Three minutes later, Conway doubled Rovers' lead after he had dispossessed Addicks centre-half Roger Johnson and the match looked over.

However, Buyens scored a 56th-minute penalty for Charlton and they nearly equalised soon afterwards, but Igor Vetokele headed against the crossbar, before Rhodes netted his second to secure the win for the away side.

Blackburn manager Gary Bowyer: "I thought we were terrific today. We started the game ever so well, two fantastic finishes from our pressing. In the second half we could have had a few more as well.

"I thought his (Rhodes') two goals were outstanding quality. The second one is a great piece of poaching and a sublime finish and the first one is an unbelievable finish from a great bit of quick play from us."

Charlton manager Guy Luzon: "We started the game well. The personal mistake in the goal that we conceded broke our spirit.

"In the second half we gave everything and tried to play positive and to create chances. And the problem today was our aggression in the defence. We played a little bit without aggression and also it was reflected in attack."

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