A GAMBLING man - not a phrase that would spring to mind if you were asked to describe Brad Friedel in three words.

Solid, safe and sturdy maybe, but you'd struggle to recall many occasions when he's lived up to the eccentric reputation many of his contemporaries between the sticks have built up over the years.

But against the Addicks at the Valley on Saturday Friedel took a risk his fellow Americans over in the gambling Mecca of Las Vegas would have been proud of as he abandoned his own penalty area in pursuit of glory in the opposite one.

And, unbelievably, it arrived as the stopper completed a remarkable Rovers revival by making it 2-2 with 90 minutes up on the clock.

The final twist? Hard to comprehend, but no. In fact, it wasn't even Friedel's final touch of this compelling encounter.

This came when he reached out a desperate hand to Claus Jensen's lob, which hung in the air for the final second of the two minutes added on for stoppages.

The Rovers number one looked to have made a sensational save to preserve the point he had plucked from nowhere, but he merely applied his second finishing touch in a matter of seconds as it crept in at the far post.

My pre-match prediction that Danish midfielder Jensen would be Charlton's key man was looking somewhat foolish given that he was left on the bench and didn't come on until the 77th minute.

And, while I'm not going to deny that Paolo Di Canio, still full of those fancy flicks and terrifying skills, was easily the Oscar nominee of this blockbuster drama, Jensen's superb 20-yard dipper was about as 'key' as you can get.

But Friedel, like many of his team-mates who had by now slumped to the surface in despair, was stunned!

Probably even more stunned than he had been moments earlier when he stuck out an instinctive left boot to divert the ball past his opposite number - the fantastic Dean Kiely.

The Irish international had already gone down to get in the way of Paul Gallagher's shot, but when one of his defenders beat him to it there was an open goal inviting Friedel to score - and to spark scenes of wild celebration as his green shirt quickly sank into a 10-man blue and white swamp.

However, the hysteria of Friedel's big moment shouldn't be allowed to distort the bigger picture.

Charlton boss Alan Curbishley noted that the next time a Blackburn player kicked the ball was to re-start the game following Jensen's goal, suggesting Rovers switched off thinking they had got a point - well, who wouldn't?

But theycertainly deserved one for the way they gave their Premiership survival hopes a real kiss of life in what was fast becoming a Valley of Death.

Rovers shouldn't have been 2-0 down at half-time, not just because of the static defending that allowed Carlton Cole and Jason Euell to find the net, but because of the way they bossed the show in between those two strikes, which came in the 10th and 36th minutes.

Little changed in the second half - which is why Graeme Souness felt so hard done by afterwards - but this time, thanks to Andy Cole, they had the goals to show for it.

Cole gave his team a real cutting edge up front as he hit his eighth Premiership goal of the season and proved that his commitment to Blackburn extends way beyond the blue and white boots he was sporting.

It wasn't that Jonathan Stead, who made way for Cole due to a hamstring injury, didn't pester the Charlton back four and he was unfortunate not to make it three goals in three starts since his dream move from Huddersfield when only the base of the post prevented him from making it 1-1.

But he should have completed that unique hat-trick three minutes after Euell's goal when a sublime flick by Jonathon Douglas (the pass of the match) put him clear. Stead lifted the ball over Kiely, but he also cleared the crossbar.

At least Cole hit the target - five times to be precise - and had he come across a less inspired goalkeeper than Kiely more than one of those efforts would have boosted his goal tally.

As it was, it was probably Cole's scrappiest piece of play that led to the strike that got Rovers back in the game with 16 minutes left.

Cole did everything right, anticipating Radostin Kishishev's back pass and rounding Kiely, until he stood on the ball with an open goal gaping. He then had to regain his composure to round the recovering Chris Perry before finally tapping in.

You could have guessed then that Rovers, with Gallagher, Brett Emerton and Dwight Yorke buzzing about the place, would seize the initiative and get the next goal - even if you'd never have guessed how.

A goalkeeper always extracts an ironic cheer from the crowd when he goes up for a late corner, possibly because it usually ends in him having to race back in an embarrassing attempt to chase down a counter attack.

But not on this occasion, as Friedel joined the ranks of Peter Schmeichel, Jose Chilavert and Jimmy Glass, the keeper who kept Carlisle in the League with a similar foray in 1999.

It's perhaps no surprise that in such crazy circumstances Charlton then somehow dredged up a winner in the remaining seconds, but the main talking point remains the way Friedel triumphed against the longest odds you could imagine.

Maybe he should get that holiday to Las Vegas booked now.

CHARLTON 3

Scorers: C Cole 10, Euell 36, Jensen 90

ROVERS 2

Scorers: Cole 74, Friedel 90

The Valley Att: 26,332