100 (AND A BIT) YEARS OF PRIDE & PASSION

There is nothing quite like snatching a late victory away from home, particuarly when it's a night game.

An out-of-form Southend side, reduced to 10 men before the half hour mark, appeared to present Charlton with a straightforward task to pouch the three points. However, an uncharateristic slip from Rob Elliot and a string of missed chances made it look as if it was going to be one of those nights.

"It's an important three points. After losing to Brighton, it was important that we got back to winning ways and we did. A red card often galvanises a team and the crowd were really behind them, so it almost galvanised everyone in the stadium to get behind them, and obviously we conceded a very soft goal.

"It was uncharacteristic of Robbie because he pulled off a fantastic save just before that; it's not easy playing against 10 men, but in the second half we did it as well as can be expected.

"We passed the ball, we got the ball wide and obviously I'm delighted with the second-half performance,” was Parkinson's summing up of procedings. He went on to add that the error would not effect Elliot's confidence:

"Rob's tougher than that, I think the way he responded in the second half says it all for Robbie Elliot, and I think what was important was that the lads dug him out of a bit of a hole, as that mistake won't be as remembered now.

"If it had cost us points, then more people would be talking about it, but it will be forgotten now. After all, there's been times this season when he's earned us points, such as Southend at home when Lee Barnard had a great chance and Robbie saved it. There's been many times when he's made important saves to help us get points.”

Parkinson himself is not particuarly popular with Southnd fans, having managed their big rivals Colchester. Nicky Bailey upset Shrimpers boss, Steve Tilson, with the manner of his exit from Roots Hall to The Valley, so the two were never going to agree over the Christophe red card incident.

"I know Steve Tilson's probably come in here and moaned about Nicky Bailey, but Christophe's run over and punched Bailey. The only player that the Southend management should be disappointed in is their own player.

"When you run 20 yards and punch an opponent, you're off the pitch, and when someone that size punches you, you're going to go down.

"Sometimes as a player, you're best off going down and then you don't end up having a brawl. So Nick went down. He got punched, and that's it. It was a red card and I think when Steve Tilson sees that in the pictures, he can have no complaints.

"Nick ran over and pushed a player out of the way and then Christophe's run over and punched him, so I thought the ref called that about right. Nicky probably deserved his yellow. But it was also a definite red in my eyes,” was Parkinson's opinion.

So did the manager give the team the hair dryer treatment at half-time? Not really his style and he took a more measured approach, "I said to the boys at half-time to relax on the ball, simply pass the ball to each other. When we did that in the first half we created chances, but we did that better in the second half, switched the play, made the extra man count and made the most chances.

"Credit to their goalie, because I thought he pulled off some great saves, and when the David Mooney chance was cleared off the line you begin to wonder if it's going to be our night. But it was, and Kyel coming on as a sub has made a huge impact.

"When you've got that pace coming off the bench when the opposition players are tired, of course you're going to cause teams problems. Waggy's done it in the past and Reid's done it tonight,” was the message that got the Addicks back on track. And the introduction of Kyel Reid of course.

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