Parkinson not happy with Holt as striker thwarts Addicks

Phil Parkinson accused Canaries striker Grant Holt of gamesmanship after his Charlton side were toppled from their perch at the head of League One by the City striker.

It was Holt who grabbed the injury-time equaliser, but Parkinson's claim concerned an incident 45 minutes earlier, when Holt had gone down after an off-the-ball incident involving Addicks skipper, Nicky Bailey, who appeared to kick out at him.

While temperatures were raised on and off the pitch, Bailey escaped punishment from referee Steve Tanner.

'The problem with Grant Holt is he makes such a meal of every single challenge that I think the referee got wise to it and his reputation probably preceded him a little bit,' said Parkinson, who saw Deon Burton and Jonjo Shelvey give his side a 2-0 lead in the first half.

The Charlton manager was also unhappy at Holt's challenge on his keeper, Rob Elliot, which led to City's equaliser in the dying moments of a pulsating clash.

'I think everyone else had the same view apart from the referee,' he said.

'That goal shouldn't have stood, but we have to take it on the chin and move on to next week.

'He was fouled. If you're Norwich you would expect your centre-forward to challenge in those situations, but from our point of view you would expect the referee to make the right decision.

'It's very disappointing as Robbie's been superb for us. The lads have put a lot of effort in today. To get three points would have been great but we will take a point today. This is a difficult place to come, and I'm delighted with a point.

'There were a lot of positives from the performance today and we're still unbeaten after eight games which is credit to the lads.

'I cannot fault the commitment and honesty of the lads. At times we probably didn't keep the ball as well as we have done, and we could have alleviated some of the pressure by having more possession and we gave it away cheaply.

'But that's the only criticism I could have with them. Norwich had a lot of pressure and there were a lot of balls coming into the box.

'The goal before half-time certainly gave them a lift, but at 2-1 we had a couple of moments when Izale (McLeod) has broken and probably should have scored.

'We did switch off (for Norwich's first goal) but it was good bright play from Norwich. It gave them a lift and it gave their supporters a lift.

'I said to the lads at half-time that we would have taken a one-goal lead but don't let it change our mindset in the second half. Credit to Norwich they came out and had a real go at us.

'For the majority of the time we stood up to it well.'