Charlton Athletic boss Jones on 0-0 draw against Mansfield: We should have had penalty

Nathan Jones felt his Charlton Athletic side were denied a clear penalty in today’s 0-0 draw against Mansfield Town.

The Addicks have not won at The Valley in the league since October 5.

Miles Leaburn’s header grazed the post and the frontman also shot wide after being played through by Tyreece Campbell.

Campbell was the creator of all three of Charlton’s big chances, also supplying Karoy Anderson in the early stages but the Jamaican international’s shot was smothered by Mansfield keeper Christy Pym.

“I’m just disappointed we didn’t show enough quality from a lot of situations to have won it,” said Jones.

“The positive is that once again we’ve shown we are a very good defensive unit and limited them to very little. That is the frustration – that we couldn’t capitalise on another clean sheet.

“There were a lot of positives. In the first half we didn’t give ourselves a platform. We tried to play through them because we felt we could really hurt them going through the middle and then having pace out wide. We didn’t get hold enough of it and that is why I made the change at half-time (replacing Matty Godden for Leaburn).

“I just didn’t think we had a presence. We had two a similar size so we couldn’t really have any physicality up front. We had to be really pure in how we played to get through. Two five-feet eight, nine or 10 centre-forwards, so we never had any presence up there. The pitch was very, very sticky – it wasn’t conducive to being really fluid, as it has been in recent weeks. That hindered how we wanted to play.

“I’m proud of how brave we were.

“The players are putting their bodies on the line. They are trying. We’ve tried to be really expansive today. We’ve had more possession than Mansfield and they are a possession-based team.

“We’ve created three clearcut chances and should’ve had a penalty – the one on Miles in the second half, where he gets pulled back, that would be a penalty if we had VAR.

“There was an edginess which the players are handling and I understand it because fans want more – they want to see more chances and us score goals. We’re working religiously on it.

“We’re a young side and at the end I couldn’t get any more attacking players on the pitch to try and win that game. It shows they are giving me everything.

“We’re not happy with that stat (one win in nine matches) and we know we need to be better, wins-wise. I’m not sitting back being defensive. We are aggressive. Us and Birmingham are the best pressers in the division – we are going after teams and being front footed. We’re not taking chances but I’m sure that will change.

“(You measure pressing stats) by PPDA (passes per defensive action) – how many passes people get against us and it’s not much. Birmingham have the lowest PPDA but they also have 60-65 per cent possession, so it is a bit of a distorted stat. We’re very good at pressing, not many people bop us and go through us.

“We are not capitalising on clean sheets. We have a real platform and have to make sure we have that little more quality.”

“We are the best for xG against at home, so there is a lot of defensive stuff. I don’t want to justify anything but we have a good platform here. At times you only need one goal to win a game but we’re not marrying the clean sheet with a fluid performance. When we have scored, we have conceded and when we haven’t conceded at times we haven’t scored goals.

“That is why we’re in the position we are. At the moment we’re in tough period and we’ve got to come through it. We’re not losing, losing, losing – we’re close to being a good side and getting results. Some are conceding far more than us. At the moment we’re doing one side very well but we’re still a work in progress.

“I made as many changes as I could in terms of attacking players that I have in the football club. I didn’t leave any striker on the bench. We’re trying to win a game. I’m proud of the work-rate – one because of the pitch and two that little bit of edginess, which I understand.”

PICTURES: PAUL EDWARDS