Ivan Mesík was pleased to make an impact off the bench as his late strike deep into injury time earned Charlton a 2-2 draw at Burnley on Tuesday evening.
It was looking like the Addicks were heading for defeat at Turf Moor until the sixth minute of injury-time when the Slovakia international popped up to drill home a leveller in dramatic fashion.
And Mesík was quick to credit his fellow sub Harvey Knibbs for the assist, as well as the other game changers who made their mark in the second half in Lancashire.
“I just saw Knibbsy [Harvey Knibbs] on the ball, so I knew that I had to sprint into the box and I just believed that he would pass me the ball,” he explained.
“He put it to my feet straight away, so I knew that I had to finish it in front of the goalkeeper. It was a brilliant finish to the game, so we’re happy for the point.
“I only got back from the national team on Thursday, so I haven’t had much time to practice that kind of finishing!”
“When you come off the bench, you have to make a difference and make an impact, so I’m happy for the other guys as well who came on - we did a great job together and we’re grateful to get this point away.”
The Slovakian felt that his side could have made things easier for themselves with earlier chances coming and going, before his fateful 96th-minute strike.
But Mesík insisted he was grateful for a hard-fought point against a former Premier League outfit in Burnley.
“We have to be grateful for the point,” he said.
“We had opportunities to score and get in front of them - unfortunately we didn’t, but we built momentum for the last couple of minutes and we did a great job as a team today - it’s positive for the upcoming games.
“I’m just grateful that we did it together - this kind of game is not easy to play away, especially against a team like Burnley - they were a Premier League time last season, so we knew how tough it would be. We just have to keep going.”
“It’s positive that we took away this point,” added Mesík.
“There’s still a lot of work in front of us and things for us to improve before Saturday, but we have plenty of time to prepare [for Watford] and, hopefully, it will be a great game.”
Meanwhile, Mesík praised the travelling Addicks for their support, with more than 1,000 supporters backing Nathan Jones’ men in Lancashire.
“Straight away, when I came here, I have felt the support,” he said.
“It builds your confidence when you step onto the pitch. I’m really happy that they’re standing behind us at every game and that they are with us at every away game. It’s important to built this community, so we’re happy that they’ve travelled to be with us today and we celebrated with them at the end.”
