Nigel Worthington felt his side should have been awarded a free-kick before the bizarre own goal at Plymouth that was eventually credited to Simon Charlton.

Nigel Worthington felt his side should have been awarded a free-kick before the bizarre own goal at Plymouth that was eventually credited to Simon Charlton.

As far the Norwich City manager was concerned his player was fouled when Tony Capaldi's corner came cross - and referee Andy Penn should have rendered any debate about the scorer meaningless by penalising the alleged perpetrator Lilian Nalis.

“I was disappointed with the goal they got because I thought it should have been a free-kick to us,” he said. “Nalis shoved Simon Charlton in the back when the corner came over but unfortunately none of the officials saw it.

“After that I don't think anyone really got a touch and the ball just crept in. I'm not sure it even touched Simon either - the ball just worked its way towards goal from the corner kick.”

Worthington may have been angry about Plymouth's 24th minute opener - but he was delighted with the manner in which his side responded to the setback as they followed up a sequence of three straight away wins with a hard earned draw.

“We showed good character after that,” he added. “We kept our nerve, kept playing and pushed them back, especially in the second half. We got a deserved equaliser and might have won it near the end, even though a draw was probably a fair result.

“We showed a lot a lot of fight and a lot of desire. And if we keep that up over the next 17 games we will be all right.

“Overall I thought it was a great game for the Championship between two very honest teams. There was a lot of commitment out there and a lot of good play too.

“This is a hard place to come to and the team performance was excellent. Any point gained away from home is a big plus and we are very pleased with it, although we would obviously have liked all three.”

Opposite number Tony Pulis agreed with Worthington's assessment of the match, and also felt his side could have come away with a maximum haul.

“I thought it was a cracking game and we're disappointed not to have won it,” he said. “"We had lots of opportunities again - good chances to have got a second goal - and we need to be putting them away. It takes the pressure off the team and people can relax a bit more.

"At 1-0, especially against the better teams, you always worry that someone like an Ashton or a Huckerby will pull something out of the bag - and that's exactly what happened.

"Unfortunately they punished us for one of the mistakes we made. But I thought we played really well and could have got the three points.”