ALAN Pardew has leapt to the defence of striker Luke Varney following his late miss against Burnley on Saturday.

Varney looked certain to fire Charlton to their first Valley win since August when he rounded Clarets keeper Brian Jensen before his goalbound shot was scrambled off the line by a last-gasp clearance from Michael Duff.

Victory would have certainly helped ease the pressure on the manager after substitute Svetoslav Todorov had cancelled out Steven Thompson's first half opener.

However, the manager himself was keen to take some of the pressure off Varney afterwards.

Pardew said: "Like all strikers, sometimes the manager has to just show faith. I spoke to him at the end of the game.

"I think instinctively when he plays he is a better player. He brought himself some time when he hasn't scored a goal for a while and I think that probably cost him the goal which he should have perhaps scored.

"He is a very important player for us. At times last year I left him out, which knocked him a bit.

"This year I'm trying to stay as faithful as I can and hopefully he will repay me with a little burst of goals.

"I've had this before with people like Bobby Zamora and Dean Ashton even, so sometimes you have to show faith in individuals."

The manager added: "He does feel terrible as he does carry the burden of that miss, but all I said to him was that on another day he will have a half chance, smash it into the top corner, not even know how he has done it and win us the game.

"That is what he has to rely on now that this will happen and fall for him.

"Their goal was a deflected goal and maybe that will be Varney's when he comes back to a bit of form.

"The header was a reasonable chance and yeah, I thought perhaps he should have scored that. But as I say, strikers are about instinct.

"He found himself in two good positions and unfortunately he hasn't taken them today, another day he will."

Pardew also explained how Varney's fragile confidence may be holding him back.

The boss said: "His team-mates absolutely love him because in training everyday, he does his bit. He is so honest at times, perhaps too honest.

"But in terms of his confidence, I've always felt he is somebody we have to protect a little bit and keep boosting because genuinely at times he has doubts about himself and he shouldn't do that, he is a quality act.

"We are still very much in the first part of the season and there is a long way to go.

"This first part of the season if I was asked to assess it, I would say he has been hard working, terrific for the team and he perhaps hasn't got as many goals as he could have. I hope that changes in the second part of the season."

Pardew had threatened to shake-up his side following Tuesday night's defeat against Bristol City and opted to draft in Izale McLeod at the expense of Andy Gray after an impressive spell in the reserves from the former MK Dons striker.

However, the partnership between Varney and McLeod failed to trouble Burnley in the opening 45 minutes and Pards reacted by hauling off McLeod for Todorov at the interval.

The move certainly paid dividends as it was the replacement who came up with the crucial equalising goal 14 minutes from the finish, but the dropping of Gray against his former club had been a close call according to the Addicks chief.

Pardew said: "Andy understands that I needed to freshen it up today and probably I could have drawn it out of the hat between Gray and Varney today.

"I genuinely felt the other strikers were looking at me and saying: Come on, we deserve a chance. So unfortunately he was just the victim of that."

And what about the surprise absence of Chris Dickson, who despite his impressive impact as a substitute against Bristol City on Tuesday, didn't even make the bench against Burnley?

"Chris Dickson for me has still got a bit of work to do to get in this team and I really am not going to elaborate anymore on that," answered the manager.

The dramatic collapse of the takeover of Charlton by Zabeel Investment was certainly the talking point going into Saturday's game and Pardew conceded it had been a distraction.

He explained: "I don't care who you are, if you are involved with Charlton and you know there is a big group like that coming in then you know it is going to have some kind of affect on you, whether it is a positive or a negative.

"For Charlton fans it has been a big, big boost and then a massive let down - you can't get away from that.

"I can't quite talk for the players, for the staff and same for the fans.

"It has now gone, we know the group that we've got, we had to battle hard and we haven't really spent any money this year, just a wee bit on Nicky Bailey.

"We've had to exodus players, but the group we've got now we are going to have to go with for the season and I think Charlton fans know now they are going to have to stay faithful with us and give us as much backing as they can."

Pardew has come in for some fierce criticism in recent weeks with the dip in form which has seen the Addicks slide down the table.

The manager did not to name any names, but added his squad needed to stay strong and follow the example of Matt Holland who was dropped for the Burnley game.

He said: "I've had some very, very harsh criticism in the press this week from somebody in particular who is beginning to annoy me and whose name I won't mention.

"But in terms of players, you've just got to kind of stay strong and believe in what you do and what you are about.

"I will give you an example of that.

"Matty Holland was as angry as I've ever seen him yesterday.

"He didn't go around kicking anybody but he was determined if he got a chance, he would play as best as he could and that is belief in himself.

"That is what you have to fall back on."

And does Pardew believe an individual in the national press has a personal vendetta against him?

"Not as far as I'm aware," added the manager diplomatically.