CHARLTON boss Phil Parkinson is looking forward to the play-offs semi-final clash with Swindon after almost guiding his side into second on the final day of the league season.

Parky’s side went up to Oldham on Saturday afternoon knowing only a win would do, as well as defeat for Leeds and a draw for Millwall and Swindon, if the Reds were to complete a dramatic last ditch return to the automatic promotion berths.

However, despite a comprehensive 2-0 victory on the day, wins for the Lions and the Whites saw United gain promotion and Charlton and the Robins paired up in fourth and fifth respectively.

Swindon, who were twice frustrated by the Addicks in stoppage time during the league campaign, will provide stiff competition for a spot in the final at Wembley says Parkinson.

He explained: “Play-off games are always exciting.

“The quality of the football is at a higher level. You are never sure because there can be tension.

“We are going to go there and relax, set our stall out to put in a good performance and keep performing the way we have been.

“An exciting game for me would be 0-0 there and 1-0 at our place.

“It’s all about getting through and I’m sure that is what the supporters want us to do.

“Swindon are a good side and we fully respect them.

“We’ll be going there to put on a good solid performance.”

An eventful afternoon saw Charlton begin in fifth, drop quickly down to sixth courtesy of Huddersfield’s early goal, leap up to third with Bailey’s opener, sneak into second when Leeds went a goal down, and finally slide back down to third and then fourth courtesy of eventual home wins at Elland Road and The Den.

But while the supporters rode a wild rollercoaster of emotions, Parky insisted he was doing his best to remain focused on the job at hand throughout, regardless of whether the side found themselves in second, third, fourth or lower.

He said: “We spoke about getting a home second leg in the week but we didn’t want to make a big thing about it to the players.

“Obviously if it hadn’t gone our way today there could have been the situation where there would be negativity.

“I could tell by the supporters' reaction [that Charlton had temporarily moved to second] but I made a concerted effort not to know the scores because nothing that happened elsewhere would affect the fact we needed to win this game.

“I just wanted to focus on the job of making the right decisions in terms of substitutions and making sure we won.”

Miguel Llera, scorer of the Addicks’ second, only discovered he would be starting the Oldham game moments before kick-off after Sam Sodje tweaked his knee during the warm-up.

Of the injury, Parky said: “Sam Sodje had a slight problem with his knee three or four minutes before kick off so he couldn’t play.

“We just made a decision to leave him out.”