Charlton Athletic boss Appleton: I wanted us to lose soft touches tag – my players have responded to adversity

Michael Appleton praised the resilience of his Charlton Athletic side as they fought back from a goal down to sweep aside Exeter City at The Valley on Tuesday night.

James Scott put the Grecians ahead in the first half after one pass from Reece Cole split the home defence.

But Corey Blackett-Taylor claimed his third goal in the last four matches, reacting first to Chuks Aneke’s header coming back off the bar in the 45th minute.

Alfie May made it 2-1 on 65 minutes. Aneke’s penalty kick was kept out by Exeter keeper Viljami Sinisalo but the summer signing from Cheltenham was on hand to follow up for his fifth goal of the campaign.

Substitute Miles Leaburn drilled in a third goal for Charlton soon after City captain Will Aimson had been sent off by referee David Rock for a challenge on May.

And May’s busy evening was completed when he finished high into the net after Blackett-Taylor once again stretched the Exeter defence and rounded Sinisalo.

Appleton is still unbeaten since being appointed head coach. He said: “There was a little bit of a lapse in concentration for their goal. But we keep responding, which is really, really pleasing.

“I said it in my programme notes – there was a question marks over them as a group, maybe being a bit of a soft touch. It was something I wanted to eradicate and make sure it doesn’t happen.

“When we have been asked questions over the first four games they have responded really, really well.

“We were good second half. The worry when the opposition go down to 10 men is that they are going to take an extra touch and slow it down a little bit but we did the opposite and that was great to see.

“We camped for long, long periods in their half of the field. We can still be a bit more patient at times but very difficult for me to be critical of the team tonight because they gave me everything they had.

“The second goal was coming. We were knocking on the door a lot and they dropped a lot into a five and they had four in front. It was difficult to break them down at times but they kept probing and asking questions, kept running without the ball and got the reward.”

PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD AND PAUL EDWARDS