There was "no chance in the world" Charlton should have had a penalty - but Stevenage boss Steve Evans could still take positives out of the League One draw.

The 1-1 result was the second game in succession that Boro had seen three points stolen away in the last moments after Jamie Reid had fired them in front.

It was enough to dump them off the top of League One but the boss is happy with the way the season is going so far.

"We’ll do alright,” he said. “People wrote us off before this game but if that’s a £10million budget, we’ll do alright and that’s not knocking them.

"They are full of good players. They’ve got a good manager in. I think he’d have been scratching his head at half-time because we should have been 3-0 up.

"We should have had the game put to bed. We were frighteningly dominant but you’re going to get a reaction from good players and they got a reaction."

Stevenage had found a deserved opener after a tight opening half an hour, as Reid fired home from a tight angle after nice interplay from Finley Burns and Nick Freeman.

Charlton improved after the break and Miles Leaburn saw a shot deflect onto the crossbar before Louie Watson flashed a strike wide on his league debut.

Reid had the chance to kill the game when he was played in one-on-one, but the striker could not convert for his and Boro’s second.

And it would come back to haunt Steve Evans’ side as Corey Blackett-Taylor coolly converted from 12 yards at the death.

The Boro boss said: "It was a little galling to see every time there’s a free-kick and it’s contested there’s seven Charlton players running around the referee.

"I think they get the penalty from that because I’ve just watched it back and there’s not a chance in a world that’s a penalty.

"They should have had one earlier but we should have had one in the first half so it equals itself out."

While it was disappointment for Evans, new Charlton boss Michael Appleton admitted a half-time rollicking was required to produce a better second-half showing from his players.

"I was disappointed with the way we competed," he said. "I’d expect us to be much better and stronger, and to be fair to the players they proved in the second half that they are more than capable of doing it.

"It was one of them where I knew there was more to come and I expected more from them, certainly in possession.

"Out of possession you could argue it could be stronger and more physical, but the reality is we’ve come up against a side that are probably one of the best in the division at it.

"But for me, I still like some of our players to make sure they’re competitive and we didn’t get it in the first half.

"We did in the second half and the performance obviously in both halves was chalk and cheese."