Stephen Robinson hails “tremendous character” as Morecambe hit back to earn draw

Morecambe boss Stephen Robinson was proud of his players’ efforts after they came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with in-form Charlton at the Mazuma Stadium.

Diallang Jaiyesimi and Conor Washington fired Charlton into a two-goal lead before goals from Cole Stockton (penalty) and Anthony O’Connor earned the Shrimps a deserved point.

Robinson said: “We had to come from behind against a very good side after two individual errors that were difficult to legislate for.

“The boys showed tremendous character and I thought it was a performance that deserved at least a draw.

“We limited them to shots from long range and we went toe-to-toe with them in the second half. We could have gone on to win the game.

“Cole’s penalty came at a good time just after they went 2-0 up and it changed the game for us because it gave us a real lift.

“We showed a real never-say-die attitude and the fans really appreciated that.

“We put in some great blocks defensively and the midfield and front three worked incredibly hard and I’m so proud of the lads.

“We are proving a few people wrong at the moment and that is great to see.”

Jaiyesimi opened the scoring inside 80 seconds with a shot from a tight angle that squirmed past Jokull Andresson in the Morecambe goal.

Elliot Lee forced a good save from Andresson and Josh Davison fired over before Washington doubled the advantage after 27 minutes, taking advantage of some poor defending from Ryan Delaney to nip in and lob the ball into the Morecambe goal.

The Shrimps pulled one back moments later when Stockton scored from the spot after he was brought down by Chris Gunter for his 15th of the season.

Morecambe maintained the pressure in the second half with Addicks keeper Craig MacGillivray tipping a shot onto the crossbar.

They home side deservedly levelled after 72 minutes when skipper O’Connor headed Alfie McCalmont’s left-wing corner past MacGillivray to seal a deserved draw.

Charlton’s caretaker boss Johnnie Jackson was happy to see his side extend their unbeaten run to six league games but was frustrated not to take the three points.

He said: “We got ourselves into a great position in the game so I’m disappointed we didn’t see it out and win the game, especially from the position we were in.

“The unbeaten run goes on and it’s another point on the board but it would have been nice to have been three.

“We were the ones pushing for the win in the end and made the changes to win the game.

“We left everything out there to get the win but we probably didn’t test their goalkeeper enough and to give them credit they put their bodies on the line and defended well.”