Johnnie Jackson felt it was an opportunity missed as a youthful Charlton side suffered a 1-0 defeat at Leyton Orient in the Papa John’s Trophy.
Former Addick Paul Smyth’s 78th-minute strike proved enough for the hosts to triumph at the Breyer Group Stadium and subsequently top Southern Group G, meaning Charlton will face a top-placed southern outfit away from home in the second-round, with ties to be played in the week commencing 29th November.
“I’m disappointed to lose the game, of course,” Jackson told CharltonTV. “I never like losing. I didn’t like the circumstances of their goal, I thought it was a really poor goal to concede. I thought we were disappointing in the second-half.
“I thought first-half we did well,” he continued. “We took on board a lot of the stuff that I asked of them and I thought we played with a little bit of tempo and with a little bit about us. I felt that dropped off in the second-half.”
The Addicks were given a numerical advantage on 65 minutes when referee Sam Purkiss dismissed O’s midfielder Antony Papadopoulos, though the Caretaker Manager was left underwhelmed with his side’s display thereafter.
“I thought we were worse when they went down to 10 with our use of the ball,” explained the 39-year-old. “We weren’t brave enough in possession, I don’t think we were patient enough in that time and I think we were too quick to go forward.
“We could have worked it better and had an extra pass, waited for the gaps to open and we didn’t do it,” he added. “We were in too much of a hurry to do everything and I think it was an opportunity missed at that stage of the game to go on and win it.”