NORWICH City boss Neil Adams is hoping his team can tighten their grip on top spot in the Sky Bet Championship with a positive result against Charlton Athletic on Tuesday (7.45pm).

The Canaries rose to the summit following their 3-1 win over Blackpool at the weekend and sit a point clear of Nottingham Forest after nine matches.

Now their attention is on staying there, according to Adams.

"It's nice to be there in our own right, but we won't be on the top spot on Tuesday night unless we continue to focus and being the way we are," he told canaries.co.uk.

"Top is always top - I'd take it for an hour, a minute, a day, a month or a year. I'd take it whatever.

"It's ok getting to the top of the table, it's staying there that is the key."

Ahead of the meeting with Bob Peeters' Addicks, Adams confirmed that Josh Murphy - who scored his first senior league goal on Saturday - is to be assessed after a heel complaint.

"He picked it up in the midweek game, and he's a bit sore on it so we'll have precautionary x-rays and scans and that, but we're hoping he'll be okay and other than that we've come through okay again," he said.

"We've got players there who can slot in if need be, but with the team playing so well you keep your fingers crossed to keep as many fit as you can. Pleasingly so far, we're managing to do that."

Charlton occupy eighth place in the division and are yet to be defeated, with five draws in their last six matches including the weekend's 0-0 stalemate versus Middlesbrough.

"They're unbeaten and that's something they'll rightly be proud of," commented Adams.

"If we needed any warning as to what they're about and how organised they'll be, then just the fact that they are unbeaten says they're doing something right.

"They've had six draws, but they're going to come here and hope to keep their unbeaten run going. It's nice for us to be looking at a team who we can look to bring their unbeaten run to an end, and continue with the run we're on ourselves."

The Canaries return to Carrow Road having drawn their two most games there against Bournemouth and Birmingham City.

Adams says that patience is one of the most important traits to have when faced with the task of breaking through resilient opposition on home turf.

"Patience and discipline are the two key words. We've said to the players that we've got to expect that teams will do that," he explained.

"We don't know if Charlton will do that, we have a good idea how they'll play but the onus will be on us to make sure we keep moving the ball quickly and be patient and hopefully break them down.

"We always feel we've got goals in us. It depends on how Charlton go about it, but we'll continue with our same game plan and that will always be to try and attack.

"I'm delighted with the application of the players and how we've got it tactically. Nine games, with 20 points on the board and 20 goals, you couldn't really ask for much more than that."

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Charlton - Carrow Road - Tuesday 30 September, 7:45pm
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