PAUL Benson says he will follow the strikers’ union tradition of not celebrating if he gets his first goal for Charlton against his old club Dagenham & Redbridge on Saturday.

The likable 30-year-old is yet to find the net in four starts for the Addicks since his arrival at The Valley last month, but says he will have mixed feelings if he breaks his duck against his struggling former side at the weekend in League One.

“I’ve still got a lot of friends at Dagenham, so to turn out against them is difficult,” said Benson, who originally hailed from Southend.

“But your first goal for a club is always important and I will be trying my hardest to get it against Dagenham.

“But I still have a lot of respect for their manager, players and fans so, if it does come, I will be delighted on the inside but I won’t be celebrating on the pitch.”

The move to Charlton, which is rumoured to have carried a £250,000 price tag, is the latest chapter in the remarkable career of the former trainee accountant who turned pro at 25 after making his name at non-league White Ensign in the Essex Olympian League.

Benson, who says he still looks out for Ensign’s results, said: “I have got nothing but fond memories of playing for Ensign.

“When you become a professional things become very serious.

“But at Ensign you had a lot of freedom and I was actually playing with my mates after we decided to join a club together.

“We were just doing something we enjoyed doing and we had no gripes about paying £5 a week to do it.”

He had bagged 96 goals for Ensign in two seasons as they claimed a raft of honours, before John Still snapped him up for the Daggers in the summer of 2005.

He went on to net 82 goals in 175 starts, including the opener in the Daggers’ thrilling 3-2 play-off win at Wembley over Rotherham last season.

But it is no secret that he could easily have ended up playing for Southend United.

Benson played for the Blues’ youth teams between the ages of 12 and 17 before signing for Ensign, and, just before his move to Victoria Road, he played three reserve games for Southend and scored four goals.

It has gradually become the stuff of Shrimpers’ folklore that he was considering Steve Tilson’s offer to return to Roots Hall for pre-season to continue his trial before Dagenham moved in with a contract offer.

Benson, who now lives in Chelmsford, said: “Steve Tilson said he was impressed with me, but that he also felt he had to let me know that Dagenham were interested.

“So I went down and spoke to Dagenham and they offered me a contract there and then, so I decided to go with what was on the table.

“And at the time Southend had just gone up to League One and it would have been a big step up from me coming from Ensign.

“And they had some good strikers like Freddy (Eastwood) and Wayne Gray, and I felt I had more chance of getting games at Daggers, who were in the Conference.

“So as much as I would have loved to have played for the town I was born in, grew up in, and supported, I had to make a decision with my head rather than my heart,” added Benson, whose family still live in Southend.

“And I am more than happy with where I am now, so I hope the choice I made then has been proved the right decision.”