Charlton boss Nathan Jones fumes over performance as winning start halted with Reading reverse
Charlton boss Nathan Jones was hugely disappointed with his side’s display as their winning start to the League One season came crashing to a halt at Reading.
Second-half goals from Charlie Savage and Sam Smith – the first the Addicks have conceded in league football this term – ended the South Londoners’ 100 per cent beginning to the campaign.
The visitors were on the back-foot without giving up many chances in the first-period – with Charlton’s Tyreece Campbell and Luke Berry having the best openings of the half.
And the Addicks were on top after the interval but were picked off twice by their hosts.
Afterwards, Jones said: “Really disappointed. We lacked energy first-half. I think I know why. We were poor first-half in terms of the energy getting to them. We couldn’t affect the game. We couldn’t step onto them. We had chances on the counter.
“Second-half we were much better. We were on top. Then they got a goal from 30 yards where we could have done better. And then the second goal is not us. The second goal is a disgrace in terms of our defending.
“Before that we had a stonewall penalty [for a Reading handball] that should have been. But we weren’t at it today. There’s a lot of reasons for that.
“I know [why Charlton were not at it in the first-half] but I’m not going to say. I’ll deal with that moving forward.”
The opening goal came during Charlton’s best spell of the match as Savage stuck via the post from range on 66 minutes. It was 2-0 just 10 minutes later as the hosts countered following a throw-in decision the Addicks thought would go their way was given to the Royals.
Jones added “They got out of the press and shot from 30 yards [for the opener]. Our goalkeeper could be in a better position but I’m not sure he saves it anyway. His position wasn’t great but I’m not sure he saves it. It goes in off the post, it’s a good strike. Sometimes you have to say that. If they hadn’t scored the second, I could go and say: ‘The only time people score against us is from 30 yards so it takes a good goal to score against us.’
“The second is a disgrace. Our body language and what we do. We switch off. Whether it’s our ball or not. Lloyd [Jones] lets it go because he thinks it was our ball. But then as soon as they picked the ball up they switched on. We don’t. We allow them to run off us.
“We’ve got five back and he gets the thing. It’s a disgrace. I’ll deal with that side of it but there’s lots leading into it that I’m really disappointed about.”
“When we are what we are, we’re a good side but it took us 45 minutes to be what we are. By that time we didn’t get any grip of the game. We came out second-half, we were better. There are a few illnesses today. Luke Berry was ill. Tennai Watson was ill. We get to the hotel late. We don’t eat on time. We get here. Lots of things.”
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