Pards: second place is a fair reflection

Time and again, Charlton created chances that went begging and in the end, with depressing predictability, Barnsley grabbed an undeserved equaliser deep into injury time, leaving Charlton having to rely on West Bromwich Albion's loss at Southampton to stay in second place.
It could have been even more embarrassing for the Addicks had Grant McCann not missed a glorious opportunity to inflict defeat on Charlton for the first time in eight games, blazing wide from eight yards out with just seconds of a highly entertaining game remaining.
"That's probably one of the better Championship games I've seen," said Pardew. "They came and played and made the pitch too big for us really. I thought they were excellent because so many teams have come here and shut up shop.
"We got the goal which I felt we deserved but without getting a second we were always going to be liable to something nasty happening at the other end and unfortunately it did."
On the back of Charlton's recent impressive run of results a draw at home to Barnsley is nothing to get too worked up about. But at some point during this campaign Pardew's men will hit a bad patch and might well come back to look at games such as this as wasted opportunities to build up some form of credit.
For now, though, Pardew has every right to be pleased with the way his new team has gelled over the first 10 games of the season, even if he did admit he had planned to be top of the league by this stage.
"My summing up after 10 games is that second in the league is probably a fair reflection," he said. "We're unbeaten in eight and our results are very strong.
"Watford look like they're getting over the line in terms of wins, but they've got a bit more solidarity in terms of keeping most of their side together from last year.
"This is a new team here, but I have been encouraged by the way we've settled," he added. "This group of players is pulling to get us promoted and they had a real go but unfortunately it wasn't our day."
Captain Andy Reid again led the way against Barnsley with an emphatic display, cannoning a curling shot from 18 yards out off the crossbar in the first half before supplying the left-wing cross that was eventually headed home by Zhi late on.
Pardew was forced to make a change to his starting line-up for the first time in four games on account of Lloyd Sam's dismissal against Hull
City last week, with Darren Ambrose coming into the vacant position on the right-hand side.
Charlton have requested an explanation from the FA as to why the young winger's appeal against his straight red card was summarily dismissed but were powerless to prevent the former academy player from starting a three-match ban which will also include games away at Wolves and home to Plymouth.
After a run of seven games in just 22 days, most of Charlton's players will now benefit from a welcome two-week break due to this weekend's international fixtures, which may have arrived at a good time.
Pardew has built up a strong squad but keeping his top players fit and fresh will be vital if the Addicks are to sustain their run of good form in the busy period up to Christmas. 
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