Caretaker boss Johnnie Jackson hails Charlton’s 1-0 win at Sunderland as one of the proudest days of his career

BY LOUIS MENDEZ

Caretaker boss Johnnie Jackson hailed his side’s 1-0 win at Sunderland as one of the proudest days of his career.

The Addicks ended their hosts’ 100 percent win record at the Stadium of Light this season as Jayden Stockley’s second-half header proved decisive in the first game since Nigel Adkins was fired as Charlton manager.

Jackson has taken the reins temporarily although Thomas Sandgaard has said he will be given time to prove his worth for the role on a permanent basis.

“Unbelievable,” said Jackson as the South Londoners won for just the third time this season.

“It will go down as one of the proudest days in my career, to be honest. The support I’ve had ever since I’ve been at the football club has been incredible. To see the support we’ve brought up here today getting behind the team like they have, when we’ve been on such a poor run.

“I was so pleased that we could reward them for the journey that they made and the support they’ve given us. I just only hope it’s the beginning of a run because they’ve stuck by us. We need to deliver; I need to deliver a team that can make them proud. I certainly think we’ve done that today.

“It’s a great start. I’ve made no secret of my ambitions to manage this football club. While I’m afforded that opportunity, I have to deliver a team that is going to put in performances and wear that shirt with pride. The main thing I wanted was the boys to run and work and give me everything. What I did say to them is that when you do that, positive results come off the back of it. There’s so much quality sat in that room that if you outrun, outwork other teams, we’re going to pick up results because there’s too much quality for us not too.

“Great result. It hasn’t been going great and we find ourselves at the wrong end of the table. So, three points – we needed three points and we need more and more and more of them. Obviously, coming here you’re knowing it’s going to be a difficult game and any sort of positive result would have been a good one. To come away with three points and a clean sheet, you couldn’t have asked for anymore.”

Jackson stamped his own mark on the side, making five changes and tweaking the formation to a 3-5-2.

He explained: “It was me trying to pick a team to win a game. It wasn’t about me. We need Charlton to start picking up points and that was the way that I saw fit for this game. The best way to give us a chance of winning was for me to play the formation that I played and play the personnel that I played. It’s paid off today. I’m keen to, as quickly as possible, stamp some of my ideas on how I want my team to look.

“I don’t want to dwell on that,” added Jackson when asked why he thought the side hadn’t performed like this before today.

“It would be disrespectful for me to speak about what’s gone before because I’ve got a lot of respect for Nigel Adkins and he was great with me. It’s bittersweet because a good man has left the football club but at the end of the day my job now is to try and get us results. I have to have 100 percent focus on what we’re going to do today and next week, going into the next game. What’s gone on before, I can’t affect that now.”

PHOTOS: KYLE ANDREWS