Nathan Jones praised his side’s character after the Addicks came from behind twice to earn a deserved point at Burnley on Tuesday night.
A dramatic late equaliser from Ivan Mesík secured a 2-2 draw at Turf Moor in a game where Charlton had created a host of chances.
Reflecting on the result, the Manager felt his side merited at least a share of the spoils. He explained: “It was the least we deserved. It would have been a real travesty if we'd lost that game. One with the level of performance, two with the actual clarity of the chances we created. We should have won that game but to lose it would have been a travesty.
“After we'd started so well in the game, we'd controlled the game, for large periods of it, second half, especially. Then we got the goal, and then to concede, just knocked the wind out of us. Then you see the character, because we keep going. I mean, clear cut chances, big chances, we should score. We should have scored three or four today, and that's the disappointing thing, because if we just demonstrated that little bit of quality, we would have.
“We caused real problems when we played with tempo and played into the front and ran harder than them. We created a lot. Look, let's look at the positives, the character of the team, the desire, the game changers to come on, then the quality of the second goal, the lateness of it just meant that it's a positive result and if we hadn’t it would have been a tough bus journey home because we deserved more today.”
Jones was also pleased with the impact made by his substitutes, whose introduction helped the Addicks generate momentum in the closing stages.
“It’s a three-game week,” he said. “We’ve had away journeys, a tough game at the weekend against Bristol City, a tough game today against an ex-Premier League side. So you need the game changers. We tweaked the shaped slightly so It gave them a tactical thing to have a little bit more impetus and it show showed, we really took the impetus. Then they sort of settled it down a bit, and then we made one final tweak, and then we got the goal. I'm delighted. I’m delighted they’ve taken the information on board eventually. My only thing is, one, we can defend better, two, if we have a bit more belief, then we'll be a better side. I'm trying to give them belief, I'm trying to drive and if they just harnessed an ounce of that, I'd promise you, we'd be a better team.”
Asked whether it matters who finds the net, the Manager stressed the importance of developing a variety of attacking threats. Jones also highlighted the importance of confidence and belief within the group.
“I don't care. I don't care if a pigeon comes on, and nods one in, I really don't care as long as we get goals but it's important that we have multiple threats.
“We are competitive, we are in every game, we've had two adverse results, we’ve only lost two games this season, where we've been well below the standards that we require. When we are passive, when we are tentative, we get turned over, when we're aggressive, when we are front-footed, when we have belief, we look a better side. I created a team in this division, on the probably the lowest budget ever, to get out of this division, on belief, on desire to go ‘right, this is how we play, and we are going to have that belief’ and they were so difficult to play. If this team just harness a bit of that, I promise you, we can do good things.”
Discussing the side’s evolution, Jones said: “It requires patience, it requires constant work, it requires tweaks. It requires information, it requires showing, good, bad, or how can we improve in terms of stuff. It does require that because the Championship is brutal.
"There are teams in this league with four or five times our budget, with pedigrees and a recent history, considerably above ours. We play catch up a little bit, but we're not moaning about that. That's just the reality of it, but we are evolving to the last two games, for example, we've had more possession than opposition. That's Bristol City, you have been a perennial Championship team for many years and this is the Premier League team and Championship team, so these have got quality players so to have possession, it shows that we are evolving. What we have to do now is to convert one, that possession, into goals, because we created clear cut chances today. It’s just taking those chances, and then making sure we keep the back door shut, so that we can keep clean sheets, be that team, and then that's the evolution.”
Jones reserved special praise for the 1,000-plus travelling Charlton supporters, who backed the Addicks throughout the evening at Turf Moor and helped drive the team on in the closing stages.
“Let me tell you, it’s as proud as I’ve been of them tonight because they never stopped singing, they never stopped singing my name right throughout, even when we were 2-1 behind. They kept driving the team on. They saw a team, they saw a performance, they’re intelligent our fans. It’s Burnley on a Tuesday night. It's a great game for our supporters, because it’s probably a little while since they played Burnley. So to ask them to go all the way up to Lancashire on a Tuesday night and a 1000+ did - that's class. That's why I'm proud of our club. But I'm really proud of them tonight, because they saw something they got behind it, and I'm convinced they aided us tonight.”
Charlton are back in action at The Valley on Saturday, October 24th for the visit of Norwich City. Click here to purchase your tickets now.
