CHARLTON manager Chris Powell was happy enough with his team’s brave performance at The Den on Saturday as they drew 0-0 with Millwall.

The Valley boss was particularly pleased with the courage his players showed to earn a point in the south-east London derby after the Addicks lost 4-0 on their last visit to SE16 in 2010.

Powell said: “I felt the players stood up to the test today.

“It is quite an intimidating place and the last visit we had, when I wasn’t a player or manager, wasn’t the most positive of results and I’m led to believe that the team wilted in the atmosphere.

“One thing I said to the players today is it will test your resilience and bravery and my team was full of that.

“We didn’t create much today, which is a disappointment, but we are playing against a side in good form.

“You can see why they’re on a decent run at the moment but I thought we were very competitive.

“We stayed in the game and we made sure it was a performance full of bravery and we showed that we can really mix it in this league.”

Powell was particularly pleased with the performance of his central defenders Leon Cort and Dorian Dervite, who stepped in for the suspended Michael Morrison.

The Charlton boss said: “Dorian hasn’t been in the team for a while.

“The last time he was in the team he was playing as a defensive shield.

“He knew he was going to play because Michael Morrison was suspended but his positioning and his decision making just got better as the game went on against Chris Wood and Andy Keogh, a very good partnership doing well at present.

“We pressed them as much as we could, we got our bodies in the way as much as we had to and you could say they never allowed us to play or to breathe.

“But it ended up 0-0, it is another clean sheet for us and we are unbeaten and showing we can do OK in this league.

“I know we were playing against a team in a very good place under Kenny Jackett but I feel as the game went on you could see it was a case of us making sure we were not going to be beaten.

“Whether we could have had that moment of quality to win the game was debatable but I’m really happy we’ve walked away from here with a clean sheet and another point in the right direction.

“We have had a tough time with trying to get a settled team because we have suffered with injuries and I have had to put players in positions that maybe they do not normally play.”

Charlton took 3,394 fans to The Den and a minority clashed with the home fans at the final whistle.

Powell said: “Tension and rivalry is always high and as long as it was managed right by the stewards and police and the key is that everyone gets home safe.

“There were no winners today, it was a point each so there are no bragging rights.

“But you want to make sure that people get home safely and they behave correctly and I’m hopeful that all my fans get home and we see them next week against Brighton.”

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