Nathan Jones was delighted with his side’s performance on Saturday afternoon, as they beat West Ham 2-1 at the London Stadium.
Lloyd Jones and Tyreece Campbell both scored as Charlton secured an excellent three points on the road to make it two wins from two in the league and three consecutive victories in all competitions.
“It’s a magnificent win. For the majority of it I am really pleased with the performance,” he said.
“How organised we were, how solid we were, how we were on the counter. We could have been a bit more fluid and had a bit more possession. But you have to remember recent history, where we have come from and where they [West Ham] were, this is categorically the best squad in the Championship.
“We have brought on academy products, Alan [Mwamba] and Micah [Mbick] as well as having TC [Tyreece Campbell] and Miles [Leaburn] all come through our academy and West Ham are bringing on £20-30million players, and that is the difference.
“To do what we have done today, they put the ball in the box quite a lot, which we defended well. I thought we had some good chances on the counter; we probably needed that bit more of a cutting edge. If we had that, then we probably would have scored more.”
The Addicks had to work hard in the second half, after Joël Piroe dragged the hosts back into the contest, to halve the deficit with a quarter of an hour left to play.
He explained: “We had to go dig deep into our DNA; we have signed players to be more fluid and expansive which we did a bit more last week. We have come here against what is a Premier League side. They only lost two players and have brought in five or six in the window, so they are probably in a stronger place squad wise than they were in the Premier League.
“We knew we weren’t going to come here and dominate the ball, but what we did know is that we were going to have threats and it would have been a travesty if they had scored that penalty, because three points is what we deserved.
“A little bit more fluency and a bit better decision making on the counter and we would have extended our lead, but you aren’t going to get everything here. The bravery we showed, the way we put bodies on the line. Today, we can enjoy that.”
Lloyd Jones opened the scoring in the seventh minute, with a superb bicycle kick effort. The defender now has two goals in two games after netting against Derby County last weekend.
“Last week’s goal is more of what you would expect a defender to score. A bicycle kick from Lloyd is not something you would quite expect,” he joked.
“But we take goals in any which way when you come to places like this. If this West Ham side is not in the top two, I would be very shocked.
“We were 2-0 up at the London Stadium and bringing on Alan Mwamba and Micah Mbick, starting Miles Leaburn and TC. I don’t think I could show any more faith in the academy. The academy keep producing and there is a pathway if you are good enough.”
The Addicks travel to North London on Wednesday evening, as they face Tottenham Hotspur in the second round of the Carabao Cup (7.45pm BST).
“It is a wonderful draw for the fans," added Jones, "and a real headache for us! They [Tottenham] have a wonderful team, and we have to re-create this performance. We must use the squad and we have to immediately recover two days after because then we have to prepare for the Preston game at home. We can enjoy this, and we will dust ourselves off and go again.”
The travelling Charlton supporters were in fine voice on Saturday afternoon and showed up in their numbers in a sold-out away end.
“The fans were loud and that shows that the performance was there,” he said.
“We extended our lead, and we showed that we worked hard. The supporters have looked forward to this game, ever since everyone was ironically talking about both the games we have coming up. We have given them a wonderful day out, I knew they would turn up in their thousands and they have today and they can enjoy their night.”
