CITY'S Wes Hoolahan marked his return to first team action with a goal and a man of the match performance as Norwich fought back from two goals down to salvage a point against high-flying Charlton Athletic on Saturday.

The Republic of Ireland international has failed to start a League One fixture since Paul Lambert was named City boss in August but has shown a determined attitude to return to the first team fold with a couple of impressive displays for Ian Crook's reserve side.

Hoolahan began the Norwich renaissance by halving Charlton's lead with a smartly taken goal on the stroke of half-time. Despite dominating for a majority of the second half, City had to wait until injury-time for skipper Grant Holt to head home a dramatic equaliser.

Though he was announced as the man of the match just seconds after the final whistle, 27-year-old Hoolahan was swift to praise the commitment of an all-round team performance.

"I thought the lads played brilliant and were unlucky to be 2-0 down but we showed great character and great determination to get it back," Hoolahan told First News.

Clearly delighted to be back in the team and amongst the goals too, the modest Irishman paid tribute to Holt's quickly taken thrown-in that led to Hoolahan's 44th-minute goal.

"Yeah, I was happy, great throw-in from Holty, quick thinking and I was then just happy to see it hit the back of the net."

Holt's last-gasp goal was a fitting reward for an industrious afternoon's work. His late equalising header may not been to Charlton's liking but Hoolahan saw little problem with his captain's header.

"Holty is a great player, he's strong and has a great touch on the ball. It was a perfectly good goal, Holty's got up there ahead of the 'keeper and nodded it in."

Having only started one game (the Carling Cup tie with Sunderland) since Lambert took over the reigns at Carrow Road, Hoolahan confirmed he was delighted to have found himself back in the starting line-up. 

"It has been disappointing but I've just had to work hard on my game, it was great to play again today. "

Hoolahan was handed a role just behind Holt rather than his usual position on the left but for the player himself said he really didn't mind which position he was asked to play in.

"It depends on the game really, he confirmed. " I'm happy to play anywhere but it worked today, I got a lot of the ball and helped create a lot of chances."

Battling back for a crucial point against the then league leaders, Hoolahan feels Saturday's result and performance could now really be the springboard for a series of winning performances for the Club.

"It shows we can cope in this league and now hopefully we can get up the league and into the play-off positions and go on to get promotion next year."