Charlton Athletic boss Jones felt League One win at Burton came with ‘positive performance’
Charlton ended their wait for a League One win as Conor Coventry’s second-half goal earned a 1-0 win over 10-man Burton Albion tonight.
The Addicks went into the contest on the back of two straight losses and had drawn their previous three prior to that.
Coventry’s determined but scruffy finish in the 82nd minute – not long after Burton midfielder Charlie Webster had been shown a straight red card for barging heavily into Terry Taylor – earned a first victory in the league since the 1-0 success over Birmingham on October 5.
The Addicks are 12th in the table.
“I’m really happy,” said Charlton manager Nathan Jones. “I asked them just to win the game tonight – I didn’t mind too much about performance and everything.
“But it was a positive performance. We’ve had 24 shots, 11 on target and five clearcut chances. It is a difficult place to come because this lot are fighting for their lives. We have had a tough away journey where we felt hard done by at the weekend and we’ve been up here for four days – the club have done brilliantly by us for that – and we have come out tonight and controlled the game.
“They’ve had one shot on target which Ashley (Maynard-Brewer) pulled off a very good save. But we’ve done enough to have won the game comfortably. If we’d scored earlier I think it would’ve been a different story but when you don’t then it is a little bit hairy.
“I’m delighted for the travelling fans that we have won a game, because we haven’t won a league game recently. We’ve won a cup game and not been beaten many times but we needed that tonight.”
Webster was sent off for reacting aggressively after Taylor had pulled him back in the 68th minute. While Taylor was booked by referee Elliott Bell, the official had already dismissed the Brewers player.
And Charlton made that numerical advantage count when former West Ham midfielder Coventry struck. Burton keeper Max Crocombe initially denied Thierry Small and Coventry but the latter reacted quickly when his initial right-footed attempt was blocked by then scrambling the ball home with his left.
Miles Leaburn had been unlucky to see his header come back off the left post in the 67th minute from Rarmani Edmonds-Green’s cross.
Burton are bottom of the table and the Addicks, while by no means fluid, had the better chances before the deadlock was broken.
Coventry’s first goal for Charlton – in his 35th appearance for them – could be a big one as it halted their slide and moved them back into the top half of the table.
“There is always that fear (the game is going to drift to a stalemate) but we couldn’t have made any more positive substitutions and I played a positive side with three strikers,” said Jones. “I played an attacking midfield player.
“The learning curve for us is that we snatched at a lot tonight, so we didn’t carve open the chances that our play and territory deserved. The game was played in their half for the majority of the game.
“We shot from distance when we could have had better quality and one more pass. They were desperate to win a game so sometimes they make those snap decisions. They just need that little bit of calmness – that’s the only negative.
“We could’ve scored again. TC (Tyreece Campbell) has had a chance. Thierry had one straight before that. I don’t mind how we win a game. It was a (deserved) red card.
“We look at our stats and we haven’t lost many games but we have drawn quite a few in the league and come behind a few people. That is probably where the real necessity is tonight to win a game.
“It is a big spell. We know we are going to need everyone, we have got a few coming back and a few suspended – so it has been a relentless period.”
PICTURE: KYLE ANDREWS