Passionate Parky pleased with point

Phil Parkinson hailed Charlton's spirit after the Addicks fought back for a priceless point at The County Ground on Saturday.

The Valley boss watched Nicky Bailey snatch a late leveller in added time in Wiltshire to cancel out Kevin Amankwaah's 65th-minute opener.

And, shortly after dancing a jig of delight on the pitch following his skipper's dramatic late intervention, he reflected: "It's a passionate game and we all work hard. It was a great feeling when that hit the back of the net.

"We didn't play as well as we can do on the ball today. It was more of a battling performance and there were lot of changes which disrupted us throughout the game. The goal was a good move and that one moment of quality got us a point.

"We came to try to win the game. Swindon are a team flying high. They beat Leeds 3-0 not that long ago, and they are a team full of confidence at the moment.

"They put us on the back foot. They started at a great tempo. The intensity of their play was good, give them credit."

Assessing his side's mental strength, Parkinson noted: "We've said to be successful this season we are going to need to have a strong mentality and a winning mentality. Since the first day of pre-season, we've spoken about that every day in training.

"We've got some strong characters in the team. When you are standing on the side and think of the characters we've got, then you think you have always got a chance."

Parkinson was buoyed further with the news that Norwich City's long unbeaten run had been ended at Millwall while Leeds United were held as well.

So what looked a frustrating scenario going into injury time turned out to be a decent result after a hard-fought 90 minutes.

The Valley boss had sent a new 4-2-3-1 formation into battle against the in-form Robins and explained: "I felt that the way Swindon play with their full backs pushing on that space, that the we could counter-attack them quickly.

"I wanted pace out wide with Jonjo [Shelvey] just behind Akpo [Sodje]. Akpo did his role and won a lot of headers, a lot of flicks and we weren't getting on the end of them.

"We didn't pick up enough second balls across the pitch in that first 30 minutes.

"Sometimes in a frantic opening to a game you've got to get through that and then it settled down. We started getting a couple of passes in midfield and what we had talked about was coming to the surface."

Parkinson admitted half-time came a little too soon after watching Shelvey rattle a fierce drive against the bar as his side sprung into life at the end of the half.

"The way we thought we could hurt Swindon was having that extra man, with Jonjo's quality, with Racon and Bailey and the two lads with pace out wide.

"It wasn't until the last 10-15 minutes of the first half that that we really came out. We could have come in 1-0 up albeit after Swindon dominated the first 25-20 minutes and they probably felt it warranted a goal."

Parkinson also had a couple of injuries to consider as the team bus headed away from Wiltshire, with Therry Racon leaving the ground with stitches in a head wound after an aerial collision with Gordon Greer, and Rob Elliot nursing a hand injury.

"I don't remember a game where I've had to change things around so often," said Parkinson. "There were all kinds of changes but I thought the lads kept cool heads on the pitch, and that's important.

"Robbie Elliot had an injury to his hand as well. I thought that was all I needed, my goalie coming off after using all three subs. At that time I was thinking who might take over in goal.

"I think he's OK. He'll probably have an X-ray on Monday but the early signs are that it isn't too bad."

Reflecting on Amankwaah's opening goal as the right-back turned home a deflected cross from the right-hand side, Parkinson continued: "The lads are an honest bunch but whoever is marking Amankwaah has got to do better in that particular situation.

"We will look at it again. We conceded from the second phase at a set-play against Walsall. We've got to be stronger as set-plays are so important, but over the season we've generally been good."

Parkinson praised centre-backs Christian Dailly and Sam Sodje for containing the dangerous Swindon strike duo of Billy Paynter and Charlie Austin, and had praise for youngster Chris Solly who replaced Racon for a second first-team outing of the week.

"Solly's been excellent," he said. "I just felt with Solly, he played against Walsall and being out for such a long time to play in a game which I knew was going to be a tough one would be a big ask of him. He was terrific again when he came on though.

Akpo Sodje, who led the line tirelessly all afternoon as Deon Burton dropped to the bench, also earned praise from the boss.

"I thought Akpo's performance was excellent considering he's had month of no first-team football. To lead the line like he did was excellent; he won every ball that went up there, and contested everything.

"He's a threat, he's a great character and he's got a lot of honesty. I always think if I was a centre half would definitely not want to play against him.

"That's what we wanted him for; he's got a physical presence, and has also got mobility and that's important."

All in all then, a point gained rather than two lost was the consensus in the circumstances, and the fact that his side had snatched another miraculous draw against Danny Wilson's side was not lost on Parkinson.

Miguel Llera salvaged an incredible 2-2 draw against the Robins at The Valley on Boxing Day, despite Charlton having two men sent off before half-time.

And Parkinson noted: "Those two points come the end of the season could be really important.

"Against all the odds with nine men we kept going. In almost all the games this season our spirit in games is unquestioned and we've shown that again today."