Charlton Athletic 1-1 Southampton

By Paul Fletcher BBC Sport at The Valley

Pardew guided Saints to a fifth draw of the season against his former club

Charlton dropped their first points of the season as they were held to a draw by bottom-club Southampton in a feisty League One encounter at The Valley.

Several scuffles broke out during the second half of a match that had seen Adam Lallana give Southampton a deserved lead shortly before the break on manager Alan Pardew's return to his former club.

Lallana steered the ball past Rob Elliot with his right foot after Wayne Thomas's cross caught out the Charlton defence.

Addicks boss Phil Parkinson this week picked up the Manager of the Month award for August and his team responded after the break with a much-improved performance.

Deon Burton drew the Addicks level with a header after keeper Kelvin Davis failed to deal with a cross from the lively Jonjo Shelvey.

Charlton had the ball in the net twice more but both efforts were correctly ruled out for offside, while Kelly Youga struck the post with a low strike.

But the Addicks, who have now fielded the same starting XI for all seven League One fixtures, could not find a winning goal and now lead the table on goal difference from Leeds United.

606: DEBATE Is it a good or bad result? A draw against a team top of the league and unbeaten, but we did take the lead Saintzfan1991

Southampton, though, remain bottom of the table on minus five points having lost two and drawn the other five of their opening fixtures. They can however take encouragement from a promising opening 45 minutes.

Saints should have taken the lead in the fourth minute when Joseph Mills collected a delicious floated pass from Morgan Schneiderlin that completely wrong-footed the Addicks defence, who appealed in vain for offside.

Mills was unmarked six yards from goal and seemed certain to score but Elliot somehow managed to smother the midfielder's disappointing strike.

Schneiderlin was heavily involved in many of Southampton's attacking moves and forced another save from Elliot with a crisp 20-yard strike.

Charlton enjoyed a short spell of pressure midway through the half and Shelvey twice found skipper Nicky Bailey with clever set-piece moves.

But neither forced Davis into action and the Saints keeper enjoyed a relatively quiet opening 45 minutes. His only save came after a weak hooked shot from Therry Racon.

If the home team lacked a cutting edge in attack they were also less than convincing in defence, with Miguel Llera in particular guilty of several clumsy clearances as Saints put the home team under sustained pressure.

Lallana cut inside from the right flank but dragged his shot wide but the same could not be said of Lloyd James, who brought a brilliant fingertip save from Elliot with a curling strike.

But there was nothing Elliot could do to prevent Lallana from putting Saints into a deserved lead before the break as Southampton.

Confusion surrounded Charlton's leveller shortly after the restart, although there was nothing ambiguous about the role Shelvey played in the goal.

The 17-year-old turned one way then the other down the left flank, leaving his opponent on his backside before delivering the cross that Burton somehow headed home. Davis seemed to have collected the ball but lost it and ended up on the floor alongside Racon.

Charlton were a team transformed and started to stretch their opponents for the first time in the game. Dan Harding tussled with Player of the Month Sam although the Addicks penalty appeals went unheeded.

The home team had the ball in the net for a second time after 63 minutes when Shelvey stabbed home from Burton's flicked header but the goal was correctly ruled out for offside.

Shortly afterwards another flicked header, this time from Bailey, was drilled home by Burton - but again the offside flag came to Saints' rescue.

Charlton were by now in almost complete control and Youga's mazy run into the box almost led to a goal but the left-back's strike struck the base of the post.

Tempers frayed in the final 20 minutes and the referee might have issued more severe punishment than five yellow cards. The interruptions seemed to aid Saints as Charlton lost some of their momentum and Southampton comfortably closed out for a draw.

Charlton manager Phil Parkinson told BBC London 94.9:

"I'm pleased with the way we responded in the second half. We've had some good wins this season but this performance today pleased me as much as those wins because Southampton came with a game-plan.

"They're a good side, don't worry about their position in the league, they're a strong team with a lot of Championship players in their team.

"They made it very, very difficult for us and but I don't think we could've done much more than we did in the second half to go on and win the game."

Southampton boss Alan Pardew told BBC Radio Solent:

"A great point, to come here to the top-of-the-league side - we put in a sterling performance.

"If we'd got the second goal then it would have been game over - I'm sure of that.

"We are putting the building blocks in place to make a good team here and I think we showed that at times today."

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