TEN-MAN Huddersfield Town showed tenacity, character and patience to salvage a much-deserved point in soggy South-East London.

Credit Adam Clayton for the cool way he put away the late penalty which cancelled out Rob Hulse’s 60th-minute opener for the Addicks.

Credit keeper Alex Smithies for the superb stoppage-time save which denied Hulse what would have been a cruel winner.

Credit manager Simon Grayson for keeping calm after the first-half sending off of Keith Southern, coming up with a revised gameplan and making good use of his three substitutes.

But don’t credit referee Lee Collins, whose decision to show Southern a straight red card for his 35t-minute challenge on Michael Morrison spoiled the game as a spectacle and brought criticism from both managers.

It didn’t look a sending-off offence from the press box, perched high in the main stand and providing a panoramic view at The Valley, or judging by the reaction of the Town fans, from behind the goal Charlton were attacking.

And it didn’t look a sending-off offence from the television replays, more a collision of two players committed to winning the ball on a greasy surface.

“I couldn’t see anything amiss with the tackle,” said Clayton, who vied for possession subsequently.

“I went to try and win the second ball because I assumed it was play-on.

“It was frustrating because it massively influenced the game.

“Once you are down to 10 men, you’re not out of it, but you’ve got an uphill task.”

Click below to view a match action picture gallery from the game

Having more than matched the hosts up until the third dismissal for a Town player this season (after Joel Lynch at Sheffield Wednesday and Jack Hunt at Millwall), Grayson’s side set about the task of denying Charlton a fourth successive win with gusto.