Sonny Carey scored a second-half equaliser to earn Charlton a Championship point at Southampton as visiting boss Nathan Jones returned to face his former side.

Saints opened the scoring early in the second half, when Ross Stewart glanced the ball into the net for his fifth goal of the season, from a Leo Scienza cross.

The Addicks levelled when Carey drilled a shot into the bottom left-hand corner from the edge of the box, sending the travelling fans into raptures.

With the points shared, Southampton drop a place to 11th, while Charlton climb up a position to 17th.

Southampton went close in the opening moments when Tom Fellows floated a cross to the back post, where Scienza was in space to send a right-footed effort at goal that was cleared off the line by a diving Lloyd Jones.

Ryan Manning also went close for the hosts when he struck the crossbar with a curling effort just before the half-hour mark.

Saints came close again moments later, when a corner was flicked on by defender Amari'i Bell to James Bree at the back post and he failed to keep his header down.

They took the lead early in the second half, when Scienza crossed the ball into the box from the left and his in-swinging pass found the head of Stewart, who glanced the ball into the net.

The Addicks found an equaliser with just over 20 minutes remaining.

Greg Docherty aimed a pass across the top of the box to Carey, who took a touch before shooting low past keeper Daniel Peretz.

Flynn Downes and Conor Coady came face-to-face in the final 10 minutes, with a melee breaking out among players in the moments afterwards.

The Charlton fans wanted Southampton's Downes sent off for what they thought was a headbutt, but referee John Busby only produced a yellow card before both Downes and Coady were substituted immediately after.

Southampton pushed for a winner, pumping balls into the box to try to find a goal, but the Charlton defence held strong.

Southampton boss Tonda Eckert:

"There's a little bit of a disappointment for the very moment, but at the same time, I think it might be a point that will come to quite a big importance towards the end of the season.

"In those games, especially at home, we play to win. I think that's very clear. If you go behind after scoring in the second half, we have done it sometimes where we managed to bring those games over the line or then score a second goal.

"We didn't manage that today, so for the moment there's a little bit of disappointment on the result. But that will be gone by tomorrow morning and then we go again on Tuesday."

Charlton boss Nathan Jones:

"Southampton are a really good side at the level and after what they did to us at home, when we were too open and gave up too many clear-cut chances, we knew we couldn't do that - and we didn't.

"I thought we were really good defensively, very disciplined. Could we have had a little bit more quality in transition? Could we have built a little bit more?

"Every time we did build, or every time we secured the first or second pass, we actually got in, so I would have liked this to have been a little bit more. But on the scale of stuff, it's a good point."