Charlton boss Dean Holden: Jes Rak-Sakyi reacted naturally to being ‘stamped on’ during red card incident at Peterborough

Charlton boss Dean Holden admitted Jes Rak-Sakyi ‘reacted’ to being stamped on during a confrontation that happened in the second half of the 0-0 draw at Peterborough.

The Crystal Palace loanee could be seen lashing out at Posh’s Josh Knight after he was kicked following a challenge midway in the hosts’ half.

But while Knight was given his marching orders, Rak-Sakyi was shown just a yellow card for his part in the skirmish. The caution means that referee Andrew Kitchen saw the incident and retrospective punishment cannot be applied.

The Addicks were unable to make their man advantage count as they settled for a goalless draw in the rearranged match at London Road.

Asked about the incident, Holden explained: “I’ve only seen the one angle. I didn’t see it. I’m not giving it the Arsene Wenger, I didn’t see it at the time. The fourth official had already told me their player was getting a red and ours was getting a yellow. At that point I’m in with my coaching staff about how we’ll approach it in a gameplan.

“I’ve seen it back on one angle. Jes has told me he just shrugged him off him. It looked like he swung something, but Jes is saying he swung a forearm to push him away from him. He’s gone on the floor, four days after the weekend where he nearly got his leg broken, and he’s been stamped on.

“We want our players to be law abiding at all times but after being stamped on it’s difficult to keep your cool. If you’re stamped on, you want someone to get away from you. It’s a natural reaction.”

The stalemate means Charlton have now gone nearly six hours without scoring and three games without a win in League One.

“We started the game excellently,” said Holden.

“We came with a gameplan. What we’ve seen recently, we’ve needed so many more final-third entries and we got that. We got runners in behind. We got into some really good areas. Recently we’ve been getting into those areas and running back, passing it back. We wanted to sustain attacks and deliver the balls into the box. Some really good deliveries but we just couldn’t get on the end of it.

“Start of the second half, again we were excellent. We got on the front foot for 10 minutes or so but then they got the red card and the game changes in how they then approach it. The spaces to run into wasn’t there once the sending off happened. You’re playing for 35 minutes against 10 men, people think it’s easy but it wasn’t because there’s no space. You’re looking for moments of quality.

“We had a few of them, in fairness. Overall, our finishing wasn’t quite at the level, it was erratic and we slashed at a few things. But we’ve played a lot worse than that and won.”

PHOTOS: KYLE ANDEWS