Charlton boss Michael Appleton on Carlisle United draw

The visiting boss was frustrated after ex-Addicks defender Sam Lavelle earned a point for Carlisle at Brunton Park.

Corey Blackett-Taylor had shot the visitors ahead and Appleton felt his side “dominated” most of the game without finishing the Blues off.

“I think it is two points lost,” said Appleton.

“I thought we played well in the game, we dominated the majority of the game in terms of chances, possession, etc, [but] it doesn’t always guarantee you a win.

“I was disappointed with a bit of lack of concentration for the [Lavelle] goal, because I didn’t really see them being too much of a threat other than that.”

Michael Appleton shakes hands with United kitman Colin Nixon (Image: Barbara Abbott)

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Appleton pinpointed two aspects of their attacking as reasons they fell short.

He said his players were unable to go for the jugular after taking the lead – and also didn’t react well enough to rebounds in the United box.

“After the first goal, we had a spell when we looked like we were going to score in every attack after that – we weren’t aggressive enough in the final third,” he told CharltonTV.

“I don’t know how many times the goalkeeper [Tomas Holy] parried the ball, and there wasn’t a black shirt within a yard, yard and a half of them.

Appleton claimed his side did not react well enough when Tomas Holy spilled shots (Image: Ben Holmes)

“Their keeper’s had to make quite a few saves. Although some of them were quite routine he still spilled them and we weren’t on the front foot enough [to react].”

Appleton also claimed Carlisle tried to slow the game down at a stage when his side were on top.

“They [United] did well to get bodies behind the ball – they get that extra block in front of the goalkeeper which worked well for them,” he added.

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“I thought we were good in the first half. They tried to slow the momentum of the first half down a bit.

“I thought our players looked like they were enjoying themselves – it’s just that killer instinct. We weren’t capable of [punishing them].”

On Carlisle’s equaliser, meanwhile, Appleton – whose side moved up a place to tenth in League One – added: “It’s frustrating – they didn’t have that many people in the box.

“For whatever reason we picked the wrong choice in terms of heading towards goal instead of dealing with the man.”