AT a quarter to five, a trickle of red and white shirted Southampton fans began heading out of the gloriously named Jimmy Seed Stand.

With little more than ten minutes of the game left, Saints, despite all their second-half pressure, looked like drawing a blank from The Valley, and for the handful of travelling support the prospect of beating the London traffic jams took on a greater appeal.

Oh ye of little faith! Saints have become the comeback kings, especially in the capital.

On all three of their visits to the Smoke this year - at Chelsea, Arsenal and now Charlton, Gordon Strachan's battlers have rallied from a goal down to salvage at least a point. In the case of Stamford Bridge, it resulted in a stunning 4-2 New Year's Day win.

The bookmakers had defender Tahar El Khalej as a 50-1 shot to score Saints' first goal. The Moroccan should have put a few dinar on himself because, six minutes from time, he nailed the all-important equaliser.

Jason Dodd reacted smartly from a quickly-taken throw, centred into the box - and El Khalej nipped in front of teammate James Beattie to fire in a header which cannoned off the chest of Charlton defender Richard Rufus and into the net.

The 33-year-old's last goal was in the Worthington Cup tie at Bolton earlier this year, a game Saints eventually lost on penalties.

"The goal I scored at Bolton was not a good goal, it did not count for anything because we did not win that game," insisted El Khalej.

"This was a good goal because we got the draw. We deserved the draw. I thought we played very well in the second half and we felt we could win the game and get the three points. We created many chances.

"I am happy that we have won the point today - but we should have won all three points."

You have to ask what does this result and others say about Strachan's team in being able to turn around deficits so frequently?

Does it show tremendous character and resolve not to surrender so meekly, to fight to the end to earn your rewards?

Does it say that this team is fitter and mentally stronger than their opponents to be able to turn it around so regularly in the final ten minutes?

Or does it suggest that Saints are slow starters, vulnerable to the first-half goal and need a wake-up call earlier?

Southampton certainly deserved the maximum points haul. Theirs was the brighter and far more assertive football. The midfield quartet of Paul Telfer, Anders Svensson, Rory Delap and Jo Tessem - on for the unfortunate Matt Oakley who was injured after just eight minutes - had the engine room tied up.

They provided plenty of service for Marian Pahars and the lively James Beattie, while Wayne Bridge and Jason Dodd, up against the Charlton wing-backs in a 3-5-2 formation, were able to get forward frequently, pumping crosses into the box.

The Addicks had the better of the early exchanges, with Saints goalkeeper Paul Jones well positioned to save Jonatan Johansson's hard-struck shot after 12 minutes. But then Rufus, also a 50-1 first-goal shot with the bookies, put Charlton ahead with their first goal in 326 minutes.

Moments earlier, Rufus had been felled by a late challenge from Marian Pahars. Charlton's players were angry since teammate John Robinson had only just been booked for a similar rash tackle on Wayne Bridge.

But Rufus let his teammates argue and moved upfield as Robinson steadied himself for a long-throw. The Charlton defender picked his spot and met the ball with a back-header which looped over the advancing Jones and across the goal-line, despite the best efforts of Dodd to hook the ball off the line.

That goal was the wake-up call for Saints and, apart from a small purple patch from the hosts midway through the second half, it was the men in black who held the upper hand.

Beattie had one of those games where he brings the best out of Pahars. An ideal targetman for the midfield and the perfect foil for the little Latvian, Beattie very nearly scored after 24 minutes, denied by Dean Kiely from close range after a slick build-up involving Delap and Telfer.

In the second half, Southampton started at a lick. Kiely had to react quickly to a Delap header, Rufus headed off the line from Beattie who powered a downward header from six yards. Beattie again, with a well-struck effort, and Pahars with a shot which Kiely saved at the second attempt, provided more hope of a Saints equaliser.

But danger was always lurking around the corner, with Jones producing an excellent one-handed save from Chris Powell. Then substitute Kevin Lisbie squandered a great chance to kill off the game with a quarter of an hour left, shooting over the bar from six yards after Johansson had crossed from the right wing.

Cue El Khalej's game-saving moment - and it could almost have been a better story when Beattie set up Brett Ormerod in injury time, but the substitute could only find the side-netting.

A point is a point, yet somehow you sensed the disappointment from the players as they climbed onto the coach after the game that this could really have been three.