Charlton Athletic defender Adam Matthews: It won’t do us any good to be down about Rovers reverse

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Adam Matthews reckons it won’t do Charlton Athletic any good to be down in the dumps about Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Blackburn.

The Addicks saw a five-match unbeaten league run at The Valley ended.

“You can’t get too down when you lose and too up when you win,” said right-back Matthews. “Especially in this division where there are so many games.

“We started pretty well in the first 10, 15 minutes but after the first goal we panicked a tad and ended up going long. We didn’t play our natural game. That suited them – they had two big centre-halves who played well.

“You’re not going to win every game. They played the conditions well in the first half and turned us.

“We’ve got to get a good week in, prepare properly and hopefully play a lot better than Saturday. If we play the way we can, I’m sure we can get the win [against Luton].”

Charlton chief Lee Bowyer was critical of the defending which saw John Buckley and Tosin Adarabiyo net in the first period.

“The manager doesn’t want to concede any goals but [Stewart] Downing put a good ball in for the second one,” said Matthews. “I think Tomer [Hemed] has got a little flick on it and they’ve put it in. Sometimes that happens.”

The 28-year-old was signed in early September and has started 10 of the last 11 league games, with rival Chris Solly not even making the matchday 18 of late.

Matthews had been a free agent after leaving Sunderland in the summer.

“When I first joined I was a bit in and out which is fair enough because I didn’t have a full pre-season,” he said. “It’s a confidence booster for me that the manager keeps playing me.”

PHOTO BY PAUL EDWARDS