Norwich City 2 v Charlton Athletic 2

Charlton were denied all three points by a last minute goal from Grant Holt in which Rob Elliot had an appeal for a foul on him ignored. I will need to see it again but I would have given it at the time. Ultimately no complaints from me as Norwich were probably worth their point. We remain unbeaten and a draw at Carrow Road will not look a bad result in May.

Once again it was a case of two halves; in the first we were very much in the box seat and played some delightful football, typified by our second goal and in the second half we handed Norwich the initiative. Before then though we matched up to City and our midfield asserted a familiar control. Semedo was everywhere and Norwich were working overtime trying to cope with Shelvey and Sam. From a corner in front of the 1800 visiting supporters, Jonjo Shelvey sent a raking cross into the box which eluded the first challengers but not the arriving Burton who powered his header down and it hurtled off the turf and into the back of the City goal.That was after 17 minutes and we dominated the play until an inevitable second arrived twenty odd minutes later. Lloyd Sam went very close having been played in but he screwed his shot across the face of the goal with the target opening for him.

Nicky Bailey then seized the ball and slipped it out to Lloyd Sam. Sam teased the full-back inside and out as he scampered down the line. Just when you thought he had missed his chance to cross, he surged to the line and wrapped his right foot around the ball to chip it into the box. It was a quality ball which seemed to float across the area. Shelvey reacted first and was there to meet it. What he did next was so good that there was a full second of complete silence and Forster in the Norwich goal stood rooted and watched mouth open. Shelvey cushioned a perfect header back inside the far post and it was the movement of the net that alerted everyone as to the outcome.

At that point it really did look game over. The Charlton fans were chanting "we want seven." Norwich had missed a great chance when put through on goal and they had forced a few corners but were struggling to beat Dailly and Llera. Then on 43 minutes they scored to give themselves a lifeline. They took a quick throw-in from a covering Dailly clearance and nemesis Wes Hoolahan got goal-side of Llera and ran in to hammer a fine drive high and wide of Elliot. I had groaned when Hoolahan's name was read-out on local radio in the taxi on the way to the ground. The Liverpool-supporting cabbie said he was "nothing to worry about." What did he know.

Bailey was very lucky not to see a straight red after he had seen red when clothes-lined in a challenge by Grant Holt. He bounced up and flew at Holt and went right through him. He was saved by the fact that the ball had just been played back to Holt and made it look like a legitimate if clumsy challenge. It wasn't and the Norwich management team were right to feel aggrieved, especially as Bailey didn't even get a yellow.

Into the second half and we managed to slow the game down but at the expense of our fluidity and movement going forward. Norwich created a number of decent chances and the noise from the home fans increased towards the end. Elliot seems to make at least one outstanding save per game and he did it again from a Smith volley.That seemed like it might be the decisive moment but City weren't finished and continued to plug away. They got their reward in the third minute of added time when a deflected cross from the left was met by Holt. Elliot had come out but was flapping and Holt was challenged in the air but he got a touch and it bounced up and goalward. It looked for a moment like it might go wide or that it might be caught on the line but the bounce took it over the line. City suddenly thought they could win it and it took a fine stretching challenge from Christian Dailly to stop Jon Otsemobor as ran in on goal and was just about to shoot.

Wagstaff and McLeod had come on for Sam and Shelvey but did not make any impact. McLeod did get put through by Kelly Youga but he dragged his shot wide. All-in-all, it was a decent showing. My man-of-the match was probably Christian Dailly.

It was a surprisingly warm day in Norwich and it was eye-opening to see so many people in shorts and vests. We managed to seek out a few real ale pubs behind the cathedral and a perfect day was only tarnished by the late equaliser and the fact that dirty Leeds put four past the Gills to go above us. Chris Dickson also scored twice on his Bristol Rovers debut as they won at Brentford and are now only two points behind us. The pressure is on.