Charlton Athletic boss unhappy with referee’s obstruction in 2-0 defeat to Bolton Wanderers

Charlton Athletic head coach Michael Appleton was able to pluck positives out of his side’s second-half performance against Bolton Wanderers today.

The Addicks saw their five-match unbeaten league run at The Valley ended as they lost 2-0 to their high-flying opponents.

Former Crystal Palace winger Randell Williams curled in from the edge of the box to put Bolton into a 16th-minute lead.

Dion Charles doubled their advantage, ramming home from inside the area while Charlton were a man down, Terell Thomas waiting to come back on to the pitch after receiving treatment.

The Addicks had been unbeaten under Appleton, who replaced Dean Holden in September, but have now lost back-to-back matches.

And the former Oxford, Lincoln and Blackpool boss was left unhappy that referee Geoff Eltringham blocked Scott Fraser as the Scottish midfielder attempted to shut down Charles before he netted his 10th goal of the season.

“One goal is a wonderful finish and sometimes that happens – you can’t do too much about that,” said Appleton.

“I get the ruling when you have got a player off the pitch. He (Eltringham) made it clear that the ball was sufficiently down that side for him not to entire the pitch.

“What made it doubly difficult was because the ref blocked Scott Fraser from being able to track the ball and it came from the side that Terell would be defending.

“Apart from the two goals, I can’t be too disappointed. I’m obviously disappointed to lose 2-0 against a good side but when it comes to xG (expected goals) we were higher than Bolton.  That may be hard to believe, but I can actually believe that. It’s easy when you’re losing to feel sorry and step away from it but the way the players reacted in the second half gives me great confidence going forward.

“It shows they have got a bit of grit about them. They have shown that in recent weeks. We’ve been rewarded for it and today we weren’t rewarded for it. They have shown me enough that they are certainly more than capable of competing with the better teams in the division.

“There is still a belief within the group they can do good things this season.

“First half we were a little bit shy of them and weren’t aggressive enough. We probably showed them too much respect. I’ll take responsibility from that point of view. We can be a little more aggressive. There were moments the players could’ve done that a lot more. When you concede the second goal in the manner we did, you could feel in the stadium there was an anxiety about what had happened. That is through no fault of the players because it was 38 seconds before the ball got back towards that area of the field.

“The biggest frustration was Scott getting blocked. We were punished for having a player off the pitch and then for an obstruction by the ref.”

PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD