Bowyer praises Charlton side’s fighting spirit after late Chris Solly goal secures point at Luton

Charlton boss Lee Bowyer heralded his side’s fighting spirit as Chris Solly’s first goal in nearly six years rescued a late point against Luton Town.

Solly, who hadn’t netted since a 2-0 Championship win over Blackpool in October 2012, volleyed an injury-time corner home through a crowd of legs to level the scores deep into added-time at Kenilworth Road.

Tariqe Fosu had slotted the South Londoners ahead from the spot during the first-half, but goals in the final fifteen minutes from Harry Cornick and James Collins seemed to have won it for the home side before Solly’s late intervention.

“I’m happy with them,” said Bowyer, after his side stretched their unbeaten run to six league games.

“They’re all disappointed because they didn’t win. 2-1 down going into injury time and they’re still disappointed they didn’t win. That just shows their expectation. They’re pushing each other all the time and demanding from each other. I’m happy with a point here. It’s a good point.

“We were good. We definitely didn’t deserve to lose the game. I think a draw was probably a fair result. They’re a good side. They tested us at times. A poor first goal that we conceded and then that gives them a lift. They caused a bit of trouble but they weren’t really hurting us. We were always dealing with what they were throwing at us. It was a poor first goal. It was frustrating. If you don’t concede that, I think we go on to win the game. It was just a matter of time before we were going to score another one but it gave them a lift.

“Overall, it’s a good point. When you’re’ 2-1 down going into injury time and they just keep fighting and pushing, it just shows the fighting spirit that they have. They just keep believing. They don’t want to lose and they never give in until the end.

“I said to him, get on to the edge of the box because they didn’t have anyone up. Thankfully it fell to him and he got a goal. We deserved it. We hit the bar twice in injury time. You think it’s going to be one of them things. We could have had another penalty when the fella pulled Lyle back. He gave a foul which was a similar decision but maybe because he’d given us a penalty in the first-half, he didn’t want to give us the second one.