By Gordon Sharrock: Charlton 3, Bolton Wanderers 3

COLIN Todd and Phil Brown sat down today to work out why their table-topping stars continue to make life difficult for themselves.

The Burnden tacticians could hardly believe their eyes as they saw shades of the Southend shambles return to haunt them at The Valley.

In the end, character, class and the antics of an over-zealous referee combined to save a point that, allied to defeats for Norwich, Crystal Palace and Wolves, actually strengthened their grip on pole position in the race for the Premiership.

"You look at the table and you see just how valuable the point has been but I thought it was going to be another Southend," boss Todd confessed, recounting painful memories of the 5-2 Roots Hall rout that remains his side's only defeat.

"We passed the ball quite well at times but we just didn't defend well at all. You either stop the ball getting into the box or you deal with it when it gets there. We did neither and that's just not like us at all."

Coach Brown was just as relieved to see deadly duo John McGinlay and Nathan Blake produce the goods once again but he saw the writing on the wall in the opening exchanges.

"Ten minutes into the game I had an awful feeling it was going to be Southend all over again," he admitted. "We're still trying to work out why that happened. Now we'll have to try and find a common denominator.

"Maybe it was something to do with the preparation or the six to seven-hour journey to get down to the capital on Friday. That's something we'll have to look at but, one thing's for sure, that wasn't us out there in the first 45 minutes.

"Charlton showed us how to play in the first half. We had no penetration and no tempo. But the second half was a role reversal. We showed them how to play."

The Bolton players, praised to high heaven by their proud manager after stringing together three successive wins, were subjected to a half time ear-bashing to match the first half pasting they'd taken at the hands of the Charlton attack.

Keith Branagan and his immensely experienced defenders bore the brunt for conceding three goals from headers in and around the six-yard box as David Whyte (twice) and Phil Chapple cashed in on telling crosses and slack marking.

McGinlay had cancelled out Whyte's opener thanks to an incisive link-up between impressive Danes Per Frandsen and Michael Johansen. But the Scotsman's eighth goal of the season was a rare moment of joy in a half that, after Alan Thompson had hit the foot of the post with a powerful 30-yarder that surprised home keeper Mike Salmon, was dominated by Charlton's aerial power and overshadowed by referee Mike Pierce's extreme interpretation of the disciplinary laws.

It was as inevitable as night following day that one of the six yellow cards he brandished in the first 45 minutes would lead to a red for some unfortunate soul in the second.

So much so that Alan Curbishley agonised over whether to make a personal plea to the Hampshire official during the interval. "I was going to ask him to count to ten before he booked anyone for a second time - either a Charlton player or a Bolton player," the Valley boss later confirmed.

It's unlikely a word in the ref's ear would have made any difference but the crestfallen Curbishley would at least have had the satisfaction of knowing he'd tried.

Instead he was left counting the cost of his silence when he saw his captain Chapple ordered off for tripping Frandsen - his second bookable foul.

The Dane was unfairly booed by the home fans for the rest of the game but he couldn't avoid being sent sprawling by Chapple's chop as he tried to make room for a shot. "I was dribbling and he came across and caught me," the man from Copenhagen explained, stressing his innocence.

"I couldn't do anything about it but the ref was too quick with the cards. There were no dirty fouls in the game at all but that incident turned the game a lot."

Wanderers had conceded three goals, seen Branagan make three crucial saves to keep the score down to reasonable proportions and breathed a sigh of relief as Carl Leaburn's header bounced on the bar. But they never looked back.

Two minutes after Chapple's dismissal, the outstanding Blake won one of a number of personal duels with the £3 million-rated Richard Rufus and when the Welshman went skidding, Mr Pierce had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. McGinlay obliged to make it six goals in four games, nine for the season.

When Thompson paved the way for Blake to take his season 's total into double figures with 18 minutes to go and with substitute David Lee already well into his menacing stride, Wanderers were in sight of three points. They'd have had them too if the unfortunate Johansen had been a couple of inches closer when he got his knee to Lee's cross. That close shave plus vital one-on-one saves from former Burnden keeper Mike Salmon to deny Blake and Thompson left Wanderers cursing their luck for not making it four wins on the trot.

Johansen grimaced as he considered how close he had come to claiming the win but put the point into perspective. "After the game we were disappointed but at half time, when we were losing 3-1, we would have been glad of a point.

"The special thing about this team is that nobody went out for the second half with their heads down. We said to each other at half time that we wouldn't pack it in and we went out and fought back as a team."

It's the never-say-die spirit Wanderers hope they won't have to call on too often as they attempt to build on their formidable start. But the lessons of Southend and Charlton should teach them of the dangers of complacency.

Johansen is enjoying life at the top of the table but he is making no rash claims at this stage. "We are only a quarter of the way through the season, " he points out. "And there are no easy games in this league, we've seen that already. But we have shown some good morale and that is going to help us a lot."

In the mood they are in - eight games unbeaten, three points clear of Norwich with the rest trailing a long way behind - Wanderers are starting to believe they have a chance.

McGinlay has found a rich vein of scoring form to turn his partnership with Blake into a healthy scoring duel. Phil Brown believes the pair will strike fear into the hearts of every team they face.

But neither he nor Todd will be happy until their defenders stop scaring them to death.

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