ALEX Neil hailed his team's fighting spirit after Cameron Jerome's late winner earned a 3-2 win at Charlton Athletic on Tuesday night.

City were left stunned as goals from Tony Watt and Igor Vetokele hauled their hosts level in the second period after the Canaries had coasted into a 2-0 half-time lead.

They showed the desire and quality to get back on the front foot, however, and eventually Jerome's header from Wes Hoolahan's cross secured a deserved three points seven minutes from the end.

"The reaction from the players, with the fact that we went on and got the third goal, was great," Neil told reporters soon after the final whistle had sounded at The Valley.

"I wasn't happy that we squandered a two-goal lead. The fact that Charlton didn't have to do much to get their goals was extremely disappointing.

"You could see the disappointment and the anger from them, which was great because I think you need that. You need that bit of team spirit to make sure that you're going to fight to the last minute, and we certainly showed that.

"Thankfully Cameron has come off the bench and managed to get the third goal that gave us the three points that, over the 90 minutes, we certainly deserved."

Lewis Grabban, who scored Norwich's second goal and his first since finding the net in the 5-0 drubbing of Huddersfield Town in December, told the press after the game that he believed City's first half showing was one of the best of their entire season.

Neil added weight to those words by suggesting his side could have had the result wrapped up at the halfway stage.

"The one thing I will say is that I thought the performance over the piece was excellent. I thought in the first half it could have been four or five nil based on the way we played," he said.

"The strange thing is in the game is that Charlton didn't really have any sustained pressure at all, but we lost the ball in vital areas, and they managed to punish us twice with two of their only shots at goal in the game.

"The bottom line is, all we can do is win our games. We've won our last two, and now we've got a really crucial game against Wolves on Saturday, and we'll be setting out to win that one.

"If the performance level is how it has been, then there's no reason why we can't go on to win more games."

NEIL: TEAM SPIRIT GOT US THROUGH

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