Charlton manager Chris Powell was glad that referee Darren Sheldrake made the right decision to disallow a Colchester goal on Tuesday night – even if it took more than four minutes to come to their decision.

Steven Gillespie’s 63rd-minute effort was ruled out as Sheldrake had already blown his whistle, mistakenly thinking that the offside flag was about to be raised.

But assistant referee John Busby never gave offside and Sheldrake, after consulting with his assistant, initially gave the goal.

After furious Charlton protests to the fourth official, Elliott Kaye, just as the teams were about to re-start, the referee had another chat with his colleagues and then changed his mind – awarding a drop ball on the edge of the Charlton penalty area instead.

"In some ways you have to applaud them as they all got together and discussed what they thought," said Powell (pictured).

"I haven’t seen anything like that before in all my years, but he made the right decision as he had blown his whistle.

"Football is a game of emotions. We all get excited and upset. Obviously, I am very happy it's no goal as Scott Wagstaff delivered a good ball in and Bradley finished it with aplomb.

"We cleared one off the line. It was tough, but we dealt with it."

Despite the controversy, Powell was happy with the points although slightly disappointed by the performance.

"It was patchy," he said. "The first half wasn't the way we'd like it but in games like that you have to go in at half-time without conceding.

"We're a work in progress but two home wins and two clean sheets is a decent start. (But) we have to improve in certain areas."