Nathan Jones praised his evolving side after the Addicks kicked off the 2026/27 season with a 3-1 win at Cheltenham Town in the first round of the Carabao Cup.
Matty Godden, Sonny Carey and Tyreece Campbell were all on target in a dominant first-half display.
Speaking to CharltonTV, Jones said: “First-half I thought at times we were really, really fluid in terms of how we went from defence into attack and that’s important. That’s the type of performance we want, we’ve got respect for the opposition in terms of how we went about it. As we’ve seen there have been some upsets today, there have been some tricky games that have gone to penalties. We were three up at half-time and probably should have been four or five.”
Cheltenham pulled a goal back 10 minutes into the second half, but the Addicks quickly regained control of the game.
“We rallied from a difficult spell,” Jones said, “killed the momentum and then finished really strongly with the gamechangers and probably should have scored one or two at the end as well. All in all, I’m pleased.
“We’ve done our job, we’re not getting carried away. With the greatest respect, we came here in League One and won 3-1. This was a tricky tie, we knew that, they’re well coached, well drilled they’re a team that really wanted to do well. We lost to Cambridge this time last year, so we had to make sure we were professional in everything we did and I thought we were that today.”
Jones was also pleased with the nature of the three goals, which he felt highlighted the progress his team is making.
He explained: “I loved those goals. We want to evolve, we want to play and this is what we’ve got to do. We’ve brought in players to do that, with a bit more pace, a bit more power, Chalobah has showed he has the quality and gives us a bit more control because that’s again what we need. It’s the final game before the Championship starts, albeit that it’s a competitive fixture. We’ve built up to this level [through pre-season].”
Kayne Ramsay missed the fixture, and Jones revealed in his post-match interview that the defender suffered an ankle injury during a defensive session in training on Tuesday.
The Addicks now turn their attention to the start of the 2026/27 Sky Bet Championship campaign, which gets underway at The Valley next Saturday against Derby County. Click here to get your tickets now.
Seasonal and matchday hospitality is available now for the 2026/27 season. For more information click here, email hospitality@cafc.co.uk or phone 0208 333 4050. Click here to find out about our special hospitality offer for the opening-day fixture.
