Nathan Jones commends Charlton’s character after turnaround win at Bolton – and says hosts should have had TWO red cards

Nathan Jones commended the character his Charlton Athletic side exhibited to react to both Saturday’s loss at Rotherham United and falling behind this evening to go on and win 2-1 at Bolton Wanderers.

The 4-2 reverse at the New York Stadium was the Addicks’ first in seven league outings and they were under pressure again at spells at the Toughsheet Stadium.

Jones had Ashley Maynard-Brewer to thank for parity at the interval after a pair of first-half saves from Szabolcs Schon and Jordi Osei-Tutu. But he could do nothing to prevent Joel Randall from breaking the deadlock ten minutes after the restart following a swift Trotters move.

Charlton were up against it but found themselves level when Lloyd Jones latched onto Macauley Gillesphey’s pinpoint, arrowed ball into the area to poke home.

And the South Londoners grabbed all three points late on when a Karoy Anderson shot took a huge deflection to wrong-foot Bolton goalkeeper Luke Southwood – a slice of luck the midfielder earned with after impressively outmuscling Osei-Tutu to control and turn in the area.

The result sees Jones’ side climb up to 10^th in the League One table, four points outside the play-off places with still a game-in-hand on some of the sides above them. They’ve now won four of their last six League One outings, losing just once in their last eight.

The Addicks boss told BBC Radio London: “We were miles off our levels on the weekend and got beaten by a good side. Beaten by a side that played really well on the day and we didn’t handle that.

“It was really important then to come to one of the most difficult places to come because these are a good side. Big budget, been together a long, long time, got very, very good players. To come here on the back of that, to go 1-0 down and then to win the game showed massive, massive character.

“They’re a tricky side to play against. One striker, pack the midfield, they want to dominate the ball, they make it difficult for you. We are aggressive, we want to press everything and at times we get it wrong.

“For the goal, they countered well and a player that they’ve spent well over £1 million on scored the goal. It shows the quality they’ve got. To show the character we showed to come back, scored a wonderful first goal.

“Got a little bit lucky with the second, but we went for the win. We wanted to go for the win and we made changes to go for the win and look, we got it.

“I’m delighted because this is a tough, tough, tough place to come to.

“Not many people win here. The way they play, the players they’ve got, the bench they’ve got. These are the top League One side, but we’ve done the double over them.

“It shows that we’re not bad either.”

Whilst there may have been an element of fortune with Anderson’s late winner, Jones felt that the referee’s decision not to show Bolton captain George Thomason a second yellow card just before the break and failing to spot Jay Matete’s apparent stamp on Thierry Small showed that Charlton’s luck was out.

“I don’t think we had any luck tonight,” he added.

“They should have gone down to nine men. Two players should have got sent off tonight. The midfield boy got booked and then you should have got booked again.

“If he hadn’t got booked for the first one, he’d have got booked for the second one. So that means that we were unlucky there and then right at the end, it’s a stamp. Should have been nine men, should have been far easier for us.

“So, when you say earn your own luck, I’m not sure we got any luck tonight, apart from the deflection, which is the winning goal. But it could have been a different game anyway.”