IT’S NEIL DIAMOND Harris makes his point

CHARLTON 2 CARDIFF 2

NEIL HARRIS praised the character of his Cardiff side as they staged a second-half comeback in his first game in charge.

Goals from Conor Gallagher and Jonathan Leko had injury-hit Charlton cruising at half-time.

But after Junior Hoilett saw his penalty saved by Dillon Phillips, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Lee Tomlin hauled Cardiff level in a game that saw a staggering 38 attempts on goal.

“The character the boys showed really pleased me,” said new boss Harris ( below), who replaced Neil Warnock as boss.

“They were feeling a bit sorry for themselves at half-time, but we changed the shape and that enabled us to get up the pitch and put Charlton under pressure.

“I’m a huge football fan myself and all you want to see from your players is to have a right go and they really responded.”

Cardiff dominated the opening exchanges, but it was Charlton who took the lead on 13 minutes.

Mac a u l e y

Bonne’s run down the right saw him find Leko, who miskicked his effort straight to Gallagher who swept the ball home.

Charlton doubled their lead before the break after Erhun Oztumer, who had been allowed to run free through the middle of the pitch, picked out Leko and he fired past Neil Etheridge.

Cardiff began the second half with more menace, though, and were awarded a penalty in the 49th minute as Callum Paterson was bundled over by Ben Purrington.

But Hoilett’s penalty was poor and keeper Phillips got down low to save.

Three minutes later Leandro Bacuna had a shot from the edge of the area blocked and Mendez-Laing lashed home the loose ball.

The Wel sh side equalised in the 73rd minute as substitute Tomlin collected Joe Bennett’s cross at the edge of the area and squeezed the ball inside the near post. Charlton manager Lee Bowyer said: “If we had been more ruthless, we would have won the gam e

comfortably.”

CHARLTON CARDIFF 4 ........ Shots on Target .........8 3 ........Shots off Target .........6 5 ................Corners .................4 12 .................Fouls.................. 16 2 ............... Offsides .................2 81.6 . Passing Success % .. 76.9 489 ...... Total Passes ........ 359 57.4 .....Possession % ..... 42.6 41.6 ...Territorial Adv % ... 58.4

BLUE BEAUTY Lee Tomlin (centre) is surrounded by team-mates after grabbing the equaliser HULL have been warned to underestimate Middlesbrough at their peril. Hull’s Dutch defender Jordy de Wijs insists Boro have a “strong team and good players” despite struggling under Jonathan Woodgate. “Middlesbrough will want to end the run that they are on and we have to be mindful of that,” De Wijs said. “We won’t underestimate them but the focus will be on ourselves and what we have to do to.”