Nathan Jones explains Conor Coventry absence during draw at Lincoln City

Nathan Jones has explained why Conor Coventry missed the trip to Lincoln City.

The midfielder had started all but one of Charlton Athletic’s league games this term – only missing out on the home draw with Stockport County through suspension.

But the former West Ham United man was absent at Sincil Bank.

Jones explained: “He had two big shifts. He had a massive shift at Walsall, I played him in a different position. He did exactly the same the other night (against Crawley Town). He was struggling the other night in terms of his mobility.

“When we subbed him, he was really stiff and tight. What we didn’t want to do was risk him for anything. We’ve got a strong enough squad that we can do that. It would have been foolish to risk him today.”

Jones took the unusual step of declining to name a goalkeeper amongst this substitutes.

Youngster Tommy Reid had been on the bench for the last few weeks with Will Mannion still out injured.

When asked if he was forced into that decision through a lack of options, Jones said: “No, we’ve got people available, but I just wanted to be positive. Get an extra footballer on there, just in case we needed it.

“We knew the conditions were horrific. We had a couple of defenders on there. Thierry had a real impact. REG (Rarmani Edmonds-Green) and Josh (Edwards) can do that position but I wanted to go with as many positive things as I possibly could today.”

PHOTO: KYLE ANDREWS