Nathan Jones: I’m disappointed we didn’t beat Wigan Athletic but the level of performance was there
Nathan Jones was pleased with the level of performance his side produced during Tuesday’s 2-2 draw with Wigan Athletic at The Valley.
Chuks Aneke’s header in the closing stages salvaged a point for the South Londoners who did at one stage appear to be coasting to a home victory.
The Addicks earned a first-half lead in farcical circumstances. Macaulay Gillesphey floated a long ball towards the edge of the Tics’ box, where skipper Charlie Hughes inadvertently sliced the ball over goalkeeper Sam Tickle under pressure from Alfie May.
Two goals in four minutes from Charlie Kelman turned the game on its head just beyond the hour-mark. He was quickest to the rebound after Harry Isted made a save from Fulham loanee Martial Godo, before then exploiting a gap the Addicks defence to fire Wigan ahead via a deflection off Gillesphey.
But Aneke, who had spurned a glorious opportunity moments earlier, levelled proceedings once more as he headed home from George Dobson’s cross ten minutes from time.
The result leaves the Addicks unbeaten in 12 and sees them jump two places to 14th in the League One table.
Jones said: “A little bit disappointed that we didn’t win the game. We created enough chances. But the level of performance was there. We had a seven or eight minute spell in the second-half where they’ve scored two goals which we’ve got to be better at, which I’m really disappointed about.
“In terms of going forward, we’ve created enough chances to win more than one game tonight. And good chances, very good chances. I’m very proud of the performance and proud of the character to come back when they scored two and take the lead. We showed the character that we didn’t want to lose this unbeaten run. Lots of pleasing things but just disappointed we didn’t have three points.
“There’s so many positives from it. We drew a game here on Easter Monday against Stevenage and we drew today but this is a better point than the Stevenage game. Against Stevenage we were passive, we weren’t aggressive enough. Today, we were front-footed pretty much all night. Things we can learn from defensively and just take your chances and we win that comfortably.
“We’ve played some wonderful football at times. Structurally we were good, aggressive in our press. We just lacked a little bit of cutting edge. Second-half, we came out like a house on fire. Created three or four chances, missed chances. Chuks had an opportunity from point-blank from wonderful play. We’ve had 20 shots tonight. Double their shots on target. It shows we’ve had a right go tonight. The fans want three points but they will have seen a team that was proper front-footed tonight.”
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