Charlton boss Nigel Adkins excited for play-off race ahead after 1-0 win at Doncaster Rovers
BY LOUIS MENDEZ
Nigel Adkins says that Charlton are right back in the race for the League One play-offs after he tasted victory the first time as Addicks boss.
Ian Maatsen’s first-half goal was enough to claim all three points away at Doncaster Rovers on the return from the international break – a lunchtime result that saw the South Londoners climb up to 5thin the table before the 3pm kick-offs.
The sides around Charlton in the top-six shake-up still have games in hand to play but Adkins is excited by the challenge ahead in the final eight games for his side.
“We’re in the race,” said the Addicks manager.
“The big thing is, the league table will fluctuate obviously because of the disparity in games that teams have played. We can’t affect that. There needs to be a certain amount of points to get a play-off position. What we’ve done is come away from home, got a clean sheet and shown a togetherness for the team which is important. Everyone having a go for each other.
“Yes, we’ve scored a goal, we will have more goal threats as we go along the way, and for me we’ve put ourselves back in the race which is the exciting thing.
“We’ve come away from home against a very talented Doncaster side who have been in the top four for possession all season. The pitch is magnificent here as well. We’ve set ourselves up in the time we’ve had on the training ground to play from a defensive point of view to try and nullify things a little bit. We had to adapt a little bit but great credit to the players, we’ve kept a clean sheet away from home and three points.
“We’ve had 14 days at the football club, a handful of training sessions. We’ve got to try and make sure, we’ve conceded too many goals this season so that’s the first one, have we achieved that today? Yes, so that’s the first positive. Have we got players who have come back from injury, for example a Ryan Inniss playing 90 minutes and we’ve got an Alex Gilbey in there.
“We played Ian Maatsen in the right-wing position. Adam Matthews coming back from injury, Ben Purrington playing in there. I thought Darren Pratley was really good, Jake Forster-Caskey. You could go through the whole team. The impact coming off the bench. Really positive because we’ve got a lot of games coming in a short space of time. Everybody is going to be required.”
PHOTOS: KYLE ANDREWS