Decisions went against us - Pards

Alan Pardew believes Charlton were hard done by after sharing a 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

The Addicks boss believed home skipper Kelvin Wilson should have been sent off for a 42nd-minute tug on Luke Varney as the striker raced clean through on goal.

Pardew also insisted his side should have had a second-half penalty in the East Midlands as a clutch of key decisions went against the Addicks.

He said: "I don't want to see any player sent off. But under the letter of the law, he [Wilson] was the last man; the other centre-half is not catching Varn.

"I can only assume because of the John Terry thing this week that the referee has made a call that in my view was wrong. We want consistency, and if it was the other way round, in my view, my centre-half would have gone.

"There was no reaction from the crowd. They all knew he was in trouble and he [referee Evans] had to have conviction in his decision.”

Pardew added: "We didn't make a big deal of their sending off at the end but that, for me, wasn't the big scene in the game. The big scene was the one that happened just before half-time.

"That, I'm afraid, had a big effect on game. If they were down to 10 men, we would have gone to the dressing room at half-time and thought we would win the game.”

Decisions continued to go against Charlton after the break, and interval substitute Matt Thornhill, who was sent off for two yellow cards, got away with a clear handball early in the second half.

Continued the boss: "That header [from Hameur Bouazza] was going in and it hit him on the hand. And there was another decision when there was a clash of heads from two of their guys which, from where I was standing, didn't look too bad. The referee stopped play when we had an advantage. So we had some really tough decisions go against us today.”

Away from the controversy, Pardew was pleased to emerge from two tricky away games with four points and two clean sheets, adding: "It was a similar game to Doncaster and in the first half we struggled with their tenacity to put three defeats behind them. They bossed that early part of the game.

"In the second half we controlled things a lot better. We certainly had opportunities to win the game for the away team, too.”

Pardew, who revealed after the game that defenders Jonathan Fortune and Martin Cranie left the action prematurely due to knee and hamstring injuries respectively, continued: "The crowd were not overawed by me moaning at the referee today.

"But I love this place; it's a fantastic ground and is always a good football game when I come here. It was end to end, like a basket ball game at times, and that wasn't what we wanted.

"But on the back of three defeats I thought Forest were absolutely brilliant in terms of their commitment to get something from the game. Colin [Calderwood] can be proud of his players.

"On another day they could have got a win, but from where I'm sitting I am disappointed we haven't got something, so that just shows you how tight it was.”

Top scorer Andy Gray started the game on the bench and almost won the game late on when his close range effort was brilliantly turned away.

And reflecting on his decision to play Varney in a 4-1-4-1 system, Pardew said: "Andy's had two tough games and played on his own up front the other day. We wanted to bring him on in the last 20 hoping it would be tight and make the difference, and he so nearly did.

"I thought he freshened us up, held the ball up well and it was an absolutely brilliant save from Paul Smith.

"We wanted Grant [Basey] to spread the play in the role we gave him today. In all honesty, Forest didn't give him a moment's peace, but he got better in the second half and will be a very good player for us in a number or roles.

"It's been a good week, and I include Wolves in that. Another clean sheet is a bonus for me and the system has suited us well for the last two away games. We played 4-4-2 in our other two and lost.

"The results today show this division is going to be wide open and with a home game to come next week I'm hoping a win will put us in the top six.”