Dean Holden reveals message he delivered to Charlton Athletic players before Port Vale match

Dean Holden felt that Charlton Athletic’s performance in today’s 3-2 win over Port Vale almost mirrored the story of their 2022-23 League One season.

The Addicks moved up one position to 10th in the table after finishing their Valley matches with maximum points.

Charlton went 2-0 ahead through Tyreece Campbell and Jes Rak-Sakyi before substitute James Plant cut the deficit from a corner.

Miles Leaburn restored the hosts’ cushion before Matty Taylor’s late penalty after Terell Thomas handled Dennis Politic’s shot.

Addicks boss Holden said: “It was really important that we got the win – however we did that – to give the supporters something to cheer about. That was the message to the players pre-game.

“We’ve gone through a lot of pain this season but we’ve also had some good times as well. It was important we finished strongly.

“The first 15 minutes was probably as well as we played in the whole game. We created some chances, had one cleared off the line and scored a good goal through Tyreece.

“The game then got a bit bitty. Port Vale came with a gameplan to play in our half and turn us around – play for set-pieces, probably similar to Accrington a couple of weeks back.

“It was difficult to get a grip on the game. We played into their trap a little bit – playing straight balls into midfield.

“The first half, after we scored, was a bit of a non-event. The message at half-time was to try and get a grip – take the game away from them.

“They had some action. We were poor on a clearance and invited a free-kick. We then gave a corner and they scored from it. Then we had some action around our goal before going down the other end and scoring again.

“Another good goal through Jes, once he gets inside on that left foot there is only going to be one outcome – you expect him to score.

“Four or five minutes later we concede a set-piece again and we are so far off it from them defensively – we’ve got so much work to do in the summer, in terms of putting plans in place to do that better. Recruitment will help with that as well. You can’t invite a team back in on a set-piece as much as we have done recently.

“The game was in the balance at that point. We’ve then scored a brilliant team goal to ultimately win it and take the game away from them. We finished really comfortably in the end.

“It probably sums up our season. There was some really good stuff, some not so good and a little bit of stuff where you’re looking with your hands over your eyes a little bit.

“Ultimately the boys have got the job done, which is what we asked them to do. We now go to Cheltenham, let’s go and really finish the season on a high with another three points.”

MAIN PICTURE: PAUL EDWARDS