Interim boss Curtis Fleming praises endeavour as Charlton battle back for point at Blackpool

Charlton interim boss Curtis Fleming says his side were rewarded for their endeavour as they came back for a point at Blackpool.

Lloyd Jones’ error led to the opening goal early in the second period as he was robbed of the ball inside Addicks territory. It was fed to Karamoko Dembele, who fired across Ashley Maynard-Brewer to break the deadlock.

The South Londoners rode their luck during the first half but levelled 20 minutes from time. Alfie May’s effort took a wicked deflection of Tangerines defender Marvin Ekpiteta for what would go down as an own goal.

The Addicks – who are 11 winless in League One – could have even nicked it late on but settled for a point in their first game following the sacking of head coach Michael Appleton. They remain four points clear of the drop zone.

Fleming said: “It’s a good point for endeavour. Sometimes when you’re on a bad run, it’s easy to give up when things go against you. We rode our luck at times but as the game went on, in the last 10 minutes, we had as many clearcut chances as them. We got on the ball a little bit. We’ve only worked a couple of days. I wanted to work on us getting into the middle of the goal, stopping crosses and shots….keeping the ball out of the net. We didn’t really get there in the end but we showed the togetherness to come back.

“Overall, it’s a very good point. I said to the guys in the dressing room: ‘This point isn’t about tactics. This point isn’t about where we are in the league. This point is about the togetherness that the showed.’ If they can do that and improve on the passing at times, which we lacked a little bit today – that confidence to play out under pressure, when we started to do that, it hurt them, but that’s confidence. To build confidence is small steps. You just keep trying to build.

“You can see the spirit after the game. The spirit in there, they’re all hugging each other. I’m saying it’s only a point. But it’s a build.

“It didn’t feel like we were hanging on in the last five minutes. We’ve all been there and seen it where you’re waiting for the ball to go into your net. We were still thinking we could break and score.

“Terell Thomas was outstanding today. All these guys are working hard for each other. It doesn’t matter who comes in. Once they’re working hard for each other and show that togetherness, they’ll have no worries. We didn’t get three points but we’ll take a point on the road.”

PHOTOS: KYLE ANDREWS