ALAN McCormack is set for plenty of banter and bruises when he goes head to head with Nicky Bailey at Charlton Athletic this weekend.

The fiery midfielders once fought when they were on the same Shrimpers side.

And McCormack is relishing the prospect of facing his former team-mate for the first time at the Valley.

“I still keep in contact with Bails so it will be an interesting game,” said the Irishman.

“Anthony Grant lives right near him and they talk all the time so there has been plenty of banter about what he’s going to do to us and what we are going to do to him.

“We will be talking lots on the pitch too and our friendship will be going out of the window for 90 minutes.

“We both want to win for our teams and neither of us will be pulling out of any 50/50 challenges, put it that way.”

Bailey formed a formidable midfield partnership with McCormack while at Roots Hall and they became good friends too.

But in April 2008 they had a public falling-out on the pitch at Tranmere Rovers when an argument over failing to track a midfield runner boiled over with Bailey appearing to head-butt McCormack.

“People made a lot out of that but there were no lasting problems from it,” recalled McCormack.

“We shared a lift home that night and also went round each other’s house too.

“We’ve also stayed in contact since he left.”

Bailey impressed for the Shrimpers and was voted player of the year in his only full season with the club.

At the start of the 2008/09 season though, Bailey opted to join Charlton.

But, despite producing some impressive individual performances, he could not stop the Addicks being relegated to League One.

Bailey has been made captain by manager Phil Parkinson as the south Londoners bid for an immediate return to the Championship.

And McCormack knows Bailey will be one of the home side’s main dangers.

“If you’re not careful he gets on the blind-side of you and then finds space in the penalty area,” said McCormack.

“He’s one of the best I’ve seen at this level and above at doing it and he times his runs very well.

“He scores lots of goals and will be a threat on Saturday, but they have a lot of good players.”

That makes the clash at the Valley a tough test for the Shrimpers as they bid to bounce back from losing 3-0 to Norwich City on Tuesday night.

“The scoreline flattered Norwich but we did get punished for falling asleep for 10 minutes,” said McCormack.

“We can’t afford to do that against these top teams but if we stay mid-table then I think we will have done well when you consider that we have such a small squad.”

McCormack also insisted he would be fit to face Charlton despite picking up a couple of knocks against the Canaries.

And he has also admitted that the referee was right to award a late penalty for his tackle on Luke Daley.

“I’ve seen it again on the television and it was the right decision,” said McCormack.