ADDICKS boss Alan Pardew has promised the teams struggling to beat the drop from the Championship this season his Charlton side will take Saturday's game at Barnsley seriously.

Barnsley need only one more win to secure safety and the FA Cup semi-finalists will be looking at the visit of Charlton to Oakwell as the best chance to get it.

The Addicks have nothing to play for mathematically now their outside hopes of reaching the play-offs have gone, but Pardew is keen to reassure the likes of Sheffield Wednesday and Leicester his side will be taking the game seriously.

Rafa Benitez's decision to field a weakened team at Fulham while Charlton were still battling to beat the drop last year remains as sore a point with Pardew as it does with Neil Warnock, then in charge of Sheffield United, and the SE7 manager has vowed there will be no repeat from his side.

Pardew said: "I was a victim of Rafa Benitez's team which played at Fulham when he played a whole reserve team and that sticks in my throat still, so I'm not going to have it thrown at me by other managers about the selections of my team.

"They certainly need a win and a home game is where they will be looking for it.

"For us it is a tough game because I've got to be very careful with the team and we don't lose focus."

He added: "We've tried to keep the players' focus and put some priority on this game and how important it is to finish well.

"We need to take that into Barnsley because otherwise we are going to get beaten and that is the last thing we want to happen."

Speculation has already begun on who Pardew will be drafting in during the summer with newspaper reports today suggesting Plymouth defender Paul Connolly was on his way to The Valley.

However, the manager revealed he wouldn't even be aware of his budget until after a board meeting this afternoon so any rumours about potential arrivals were extremely wide of the mark.

He explained: "It is not true in terms of Connolly joining us and I don't know how these rumours begin.

"At the moment we haven't contacted any agent or player for next year.

"We are waiting for our budget to come through to see who we can talk to and who is available to be talked to legally and then we will make our decisions."

Skipper Matt Holland has indicated he would like to stay in SE7, but Pardew said nothing would be decided about his future until the summer.

He added: "I haven't spoke to Matty so I think it is a little unfair to speak publicly about him.

"He won player of the year and is our captain, so I will be sitting down with him and having discussions about next year and what the future holds for Matty Holland and Charlton."

Charlton will be without the services of loan signings Leroy Lita and Lee Cook for the remainder of the season after the pair returned to Reading and Fulham respectively.

Pardew indicated last week he would like Cook to stay at The Valley next season, but confirmed today a permanent switch was now off the agenda.

He said: "Lee did get a knock on Saturday, but I decided I didn't want to use his services anymore.

"I don't see we would be in a position to be able to take Cook permanently and that is one of the reasons he has gone back.

"With his stature in the game, his value, the contract he has at Fulham and the position they are in suggests he will stay there in my view."

Lloyd Sam (thigh), Jerome Thomas (hamstring) and Zheng Zhi (groin) will all miss the Barnsley game through injury.