Charlton rescue point at Burnley with 96-minute equaliser

The Slovakian left-back, on as a 75th-minute replacement for Amari’i Bell, surged forward unmarked to receive a first-time pass from fellow substitute Harvey Knibbs after Conor Coventry’s long ball down the right had rebounded off Hjalmar Ekdal.

Mesik still had plenty to do but was aided by home keeper Gregoire Coudert, who got a hand to his fierce left-foot shot but only managed to divert it inside the right-hand post.

It was the summer signing’s first goal for his new club and Charlton’s second leveller of the evening. They had fallen behind to Jacob Bruun Larsen’s 36th-minute opener. He cut in from the left and unleashed a shot which travelled through a crowd of home defenders and beat Arthur Okwondo at his near post after a fine run from Josh Laurent had picked him out.

The visitors had chances of their own in the first half, with a Billy Koumetio header cleared off the line and Karlan Grant failing to react quickly enough to a Miles Leaburn flick-on.

There was a bizarre incident when a home supporter in the front row of the stand threw a spare ball at Bell’s head as he prepared to take a throw-in, with the fan eventually ejected. However, the Addicks defender did not react.

Leaburn missed with a header after the break, but Charlton did equalise on 50 minutes when Coudert was stranded in six-yard box traffic following a Danny McNamara corner.

Lloyd Jones headed back from the far post and fellow defender Kayne Ramsay, with his back to goal, was able to turn the loose ball into the roof of the net.

Charlton then conceded again seven minutes later, when Oliver Skipp lost possession near halfway and the ball was swept across to Largie Ramazani on the Burnley right by Igor Julio. Neither Bell nor Koumetio could prevent the on-loan Leeds winger from shooting across Okonkwo and in, although it was another goal when the keeper might have done better.

Boss Nathan Jones made a quadruple change in an effort to spark some life into his side, with Charlie Kelman and Micah Mbick also coming on up front, but it was Burnley – for whom veteran Jamie Vardy had made his first start - who looked the more likely to add to the scoreline.

In the end that enterprise proved their downfall as they were caught playing too far forward for that stage of the game and Mesik punished them to secure a point that Charlton possibly deserved overall but had looked increasingly unlikely to retrieve.

The Charlton boss celebrated the point effusively on the touchline, swinging from the roof of the dugout, and said afterwards that he was “really proud” of his team’s performance.

“The disappointing thing is that after controlling the early stages of the second half we conceded from a counter-attack,” he said. “But I thought we controlled the game. I thought we out-paced them. We worked really hard, and they’re an ex-Premier League team.

“We had real clear-cut chances to take the lead and make the scoreline a lot more comfortable for us at half-time.”