Michael Appleton after defeat at Orient: Charlton have to stop conceding when sides have short spells of pressure

Charlton head coach Michael Appleton says his side must stop conceding goals when oppositions have “10-minute spells” against them.

The lacklustre Addicks were beaten 1-0 at Leyton Orient on Boxing Day – with centre-half Omar Beckles sweeping home from substitute Dan Agyei’s cross 10 minutes from time.

The South Londoners had shaded a low-quality first-period but didn’t show anywhere near enough guile in front of goal.

Orient, winless on home turf since early October in League One, came into the game later on and could have added a second shortly after their goal when Ruel Sotiriou was denied.

Corey Blackett-Taylor spurned a late opportunity to level and George Dobson was denied a penalty when he appeared to be hauled down by Beckles.

The result ends Charlton’s seven-game undefeated run but they’ve now won just two of their last 10 in League One and will sit at least 11 points shy of the top six once this afternoon’s fixtures are completed.

“Frustrating, disappointing,” admitted Appleton, whose side hasn’t kept a clean sheet since mid-October.

“When you get these type of games where we looked a little bit nervous, first and foremost you want to keep a clean sheet. That’s something that we’ve struggled to do this year. In doing so, it made it doubly difficult.

“I didn’t feel under pressure, but they had a 10-minute spell where they scored a goal. We can’t step away from a game losing 1-0 when an opposition only has a 10-minute spell of pressure.”

“You need to find a way of coming through that as a group and making sure the opposition don’t score,” added Appleton, when asked why sides like Cambridge United, Burton Albion and now Leyton Orient are able to breach the Addicks after only short bursts of attacking play.

“I didn’t think it was a case of that today but it was a combination of what’s happened in the past. Similar sorts of players most weeks and it caught up with one or two of them.

“If we get what we deserve today with a blatant penalty and the situation with Corey [Blackett-Taylor] we might have [come from behind] again but that’s painting over cracks. There is a resilience to the group. The mentality of the group is reasonably okay. What we’ve seen over the last few games is a lack of quality in the final-third. From everybody.

“Whether that’s set-piece delivery, the way we attack set-plays and crosses. People that are in position to cross the ball or get shots away. The concern is more that, rather than if we’ve got the mentality to come back from behind. I think we’ve got that in abundance. It’s more that we’ve lacked quality in the final-third.”

PICTURE: PAUL EDWARDS