Garner: "We didn't take our opportunities"

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Ben Garner was left frustrated after Charlton surrendered a lead against Forest Green Rovers on Tuesday night.

Corey Blackett-Taylor fired the Addicks ahead early on with his second goal of the campaign, but Connor Wickham's equaliser on the stroke of half-time ultimately earned the visitors a share of the spoils.

"Frustration is a good summary of the 90 minutes," Garner told CharltonTV. "We started well and scored a really good goal. We had good opportunities to score a second and were on top at that stage. I just thought we got a little bit loose and made too many mistakes going into half-time. 

"We ultimately gave them a goal. There were several mistakes in the build-up to it and we gave them something to hold on to. 

"In the second half they had something to hold on to and they run the time down and manage the game well from their perspective, but we gave them an opportunity to do that by giving them a goal and then we didn't take our opportunities when we created them in the second half."

Payne and Blackett-Taylor, two of six changes made by Garner for tonight's clash, combined to devastating effect for Charlton's opener.

"I thought Payney was excellent," said the gaffer. "He was a real bright spark tonight and it was great to see Corey get another goal. I also thought young Richard Chin equipped himself really well at left-back.

"We should have then gone on from that and we have to be a bit more ruthless in those scenarios in terms of getting the second and the third to kill the game off. At that stage we were really in the ascendancy and it was us letting them back into the game. It gave them hope and it gave them a goal.

"We didn't start as well at the start of the second half. We didn't control the transitions and they kept breaking. We changed shape and looked much better, and I thought we finished the game well in terms of that. 

"We found good positions to get crosses in and created good opportunities but for the amount of positions we got into and the chances we created, we have to score more goals," he added. "It's as simple as that, it's frustrating. We're still unbeaten at home, but we're disappointed with the last two and we have to build from it now and stay positive."

Switching focus to Saturday's trip north, Garner said: "We should have performed better than we did tonight and we should have got the win, but the opportunity to go again on Saturday is great because we can get straight back into work. We can't feel sorry for ourselves, we've got to be positive and we've got to look ahead, starting with Fleetwood on Saturday."

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