Fleetwood boss Joey Barton praises team but not officials after defeat at Charlton

Joey Barton praised the resilience of his Fleetwood Town side for battling back from two goals down at Charlton Athletic, even though they were beaten 3-2 by a second- half penalty.

Fleetwood chief visits Parliament calling for urgent action to save clubs

Two Ched Evans goals in as many minutes pulled Town level in London only for Conor Washington to score a second of his own to end Fleetwood’s three-match winning run.

Joey Barton felt Fleetwood showed great character to pull back from 2-0 down with a Ched Evans brace at Charlton

Head coach Barton said: “We stuck to the game plan well and carried on passing the ball around well.

“We were rewarded by two great goals by Ched – the second is a fantastic ball in by Barrie McKay.

“We came in at half-time and were only focused on winning the game. We thought we were the better side, certainly the better footballing team.

“I think some of our lads who are new to it learned about the character of our team and the way we want to play football.

“We were just unfortunate we gave away a sloppy penalty in the second half because I think the first 15 minutes after half-time were pretty much all they were going to have.”

Barton had no complaints about the decisive penalty, awarded for a foul by Danny Andrew on Albie Morgan, but wasn’t going to let the officials off the hook.

He added: “I think it was a pen but I haven’t seen it back. I think it was the only decision the referee got right. He had a tough night ... but we shouldn’t be leaving it in the hands of the officials.”