Charlton close the season in South Wales with safety secured and sights set on what comes next.

There is something fitting about ending the season in Swansea. A swan song for a campaign that has been as much about endurance as it has been about progress. It was always going to be that way though.

When Nathan Jones's squad make the trip west for the final game, they do so with Championship status secured. Fifty three points on the board means there will be no late drama and no nervous glances elsewhere. The lowest possible finish is twenty first. The highest, seventeenth. Somewhere in that range lies a fair reflection of where Charlton are right now.

And perhaps that, in itself, tells the story. “This is a monster of a division,” as Nathan Jones has said more than once, including in the aftermath of last week's crucial win over Hull City. This season has done little to contradict that. Charlton arrived in the Championship alongside strong company in Wrexham and Birmingham City, emerging from one of the toughest League One campaigns in recent memory. The step up was always going to be demanding.

Looking back now, the pre-season voices were not far off. Writers such as Rich Cawley, Daniel Storey and Ben Ransom all pointed towards consolidation as the likely outcome. They were right. This has been a season of holding ground, of learning, and of surviving in a division where financial muscle often outweighs momentum. But ironically Leicester City, armed with one of the largest wage bills in the league, have fallen through the trapdoor. Money helps, but it guarantees nothing.

Charlton’s own campaign has been built on resilience. Defensively, there has been structure. Organisationally, there has been growth. But the numbers tell you where improvement is needed. Forty three goals scored in forty five games. Fifty five conceded. Too many matches where chances were created but not taken.

It has left the side, at times, resembling a doughnut. Solid around the edges, but with something missing through the middle. There are positives, though. Young players have been blooded and some more established stars have stepped up where needed. Sonny Carey leads the season's scoring charts with eight goals, while Charlie Kelman has chipped in with seven. He scored the goal of the season on Saturday but he also scored arguably the most crucial goals of the season - home and away to Oxford United, thus depriving them of four points.

This Saturday is less about last-day consequences and more about closure. A chance for a couple of thousand Addicks making the journey to South Wales to enjoy the occasion, reflect on the season, and look ahead, because there is plenty to look forward to. Another year in the Championship brings fresh opportunity and perhaps even the prospect of renewing local rivalries. There is something almost affectionate in the idea that we want Millwall to remain exactly where they are in the Championship, if only so that the derby statistic and old scores can finally be settled.

And alongside the derby we somehow conspire never to win, there may yet be visits to grounds featuring the likes of Tottenham Hotspur or West Ham United in the months ahead. For now, though, this is the swan song. One last performance. One last ninety minutes in a season that has tested, stretched and ultimately consolidated Charlton Athletic's position.

Consolidation was the aim. Consolidation has been achieved. What comes next is the more interesting question. Let's hope the fixture list and equally importantly the transfer window is kind to us too. Onwards and upwards, after the swans.

As for Swansea - this was their eighth consecutive season in The Championship and they will probably finish just in the top half. It has been an unmemorable campaign for them apart from the prolific scoring of their Slovenian international Zan Vipotnik who will surely end up as Championship top scorer even though Lloyd Jones will no doubt ensure that he won't add to his current total of 22. He has certainly proved a better investment than Adam Idoh who has scored just four since his £7m transfer from Celtic last summer, albeit one of them was against us.