Ben Purrington’s equaliser at Wembley may be the least talked about of the the three in the League One Play Off victory, but that doesn’t bother the defender.

The on-loan Rotherham left back’s first strike for Charlton on 35 minutes was sandwiched between Naby Sarr and Dillon Phillips’ calamitous opener and Patrick Bauer’s dramatic 95th minute promotion clincher.

Purrington, who was fighting at the bottom end of the table with AFC Wimbledon in the first half of the season found himself with a simple, but crucial, tap in at the back post following a Lyle Taylor cross.

“It’s my first league goal if you class that as a league goal,” he told Charlton Live.

“There’s no better time to score it than that.

“I’ve scored in the FA Cup a few times but I’ve never scored in the league.

“What a time to do it.

“First thirty minutes we weren’t at it, but we grew into the game and what a result it was.

“When we got the equaliser, we settled into the game.

“It was a lot different after we got the equaliser.”

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There was no one more relieved in the 76,000 strong Wembley crowd to see Purrington’s strike hit the back of the net than goalkeeper Dillon Philips.

Purrington however was first to jump to his teammate’s defence.

“Dills has been brilliant all year.

“Mistakes like that happen, you see it at every level.

“It’s just a shame it happened on a day like this at Wembley but credit to Dill, he’s been top-drawer all year.

“The amount of clean-sheets he’s kept, the amount of saves he’s made.

“He’s been unbelievable.

“I’ve made mistakes in my time, people score own goals.

“It’s just one of those things that’s happened.

“It’s early on, there’s a lot of time for you to come back into the game.”

Surreal Winner

As for the winning goal, Purrington admitted seeing Bauer stab home at the second attempt with five seconds to go was a surreal moment.

“You’ve gone throughout the whole game trying to get the result and then when it happens you’re taken aback.

“I don’t think there’s any better feeling than that, scoring in the last minute and how we did.

“As soon as we scored it was like if we concede now we’re going to be devastated.”

Still under contract at the team who Charlton will be replacing in the Championship, the former Plymouth man revealed he would ‘100% be open’ to extending his stay at The Valley, but admitted he’ll have to ‘see how the next few weeks pan out.’

“The lads, the group that we have, the manager, the fans,- It’s a great club.

“I’ve scored at Wembley for Charlton now so the club means a bit to me now.

“I’ve enjoyed every minute of my time at Charlton.”

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