Nathan Jones proud of Charlton performance despite EFL Cup defeat against Birmingham

Charlton boss Nathan Jones said he was proud of his side’s performance after they were dumped out of the EFL Cup by Birmingham City.

The Addicks were left to rue Tyreece Campbell’s early penalty miss as Brandon Khela curled home the only goal of the game in spectacular style just beyond the half-hour mark.

Jones’ side had started brightly – with Luke Berry twice coming close – against their high-spending visitors but were deflated by the opening goal and struggled to create openings after falling behind.

Blues were reduced to ten men 12 minutes from time as former QPR man Dion Sanderson was shown a second yellow card for a pull on Daniel Kanu.

But the Addicks were unable to force penalties – with Greg Docherty off-target with their best moment of the second-half in added-time.

Jones said: “Overall, I’m disappointed because we lost the game. For 30 minutes we were truly outstanding. Missed a penalty, we had a number of chances to take the lead. Those were the fine margins. They score from 30 yards with a goal that is thoroughly defendable. That’s the difference.

“We were excellent out of possession, we really went after them. These are a good side. They are well coached. Got good players. You’d imagine by far the biggest budget so they’re able to have the quality of players. That was probably the only difference, that final third quality. They had one opportunity and took it. We had a number and didn’t.

“We did create chances,” added Jones when asked if creating and converting chances was a disappointment on the evening.

“We had the best chance – the penalty. We should have been one up and it would have been a different game. But we missed the penalty. We’ve had chances first-half. We’ve had opportunities on the counter where we didn’t make the most of it. We’ve pushed them to the absolute limit. They had a centre-half sent off, could have had two sent off. I’m really proud of the performance. These were a championship side last season and we, up until February, were trying to stay in League One. The improvement is huge.

“These are expected to walk the league. Not win the league, walk it. And the margins were very small between the two teams. We’re in a decent place.”

PHOTOS: PAUL EDWARDS