Charlton Athletic boss Nathan Jones expressed pride and frustration in equal measure following his side's narrow 1-0 defeat to Leicester City at The Valley on Saturday afternoon.
Despite a dominant performance filled with intensity, energy, and attacking intent, the Addicks were undone by a moment of individual brilliance from the visitors, a strike that proved to be the game’s only goal.
“I have elements of immense pride, and then a tinge of disappointment and, honestly, a bit of amazement,” Jones reflected post-match. “They’ve scored a goal that’s worthy of winning any game, but should they have been allowed to? No. There was a free-kick in the build-up that categorically wasn’t a foul, and that’s disappointing.”
While Leicester’s goal was the standout moment, Jones was quick to point out the quality and effort shown by his own team throughout the 90 minutes.
“We were aggressive, we pressed superbly, and we dominated large parts of the game,” he said. “We had 20 shots, seven on target, five blocked. We created clear-cut chances and should have won the game. If that had ended 3-4 or even 5-1, I don’t think anyone would’ve argued. That’s the learning curve for us. We have to be more clinical.”
Sky Sports named Leicester’s goalkeeper Player of the Match, a statistic Jones believes speaks volumes about the Addicks’ performance.
He explained: “I don’t need Sky to tell me how well we played. The way we pressed, the energy, the aggression, I thought we were outstanding. But when you’re that dominant, you have to take your chances. That’s the difference at this level.”
Charlton also had a Lloyd Jones goal controversially ruled out, a decision that left the manager baffled.
“Sheer amazement, honestly,” Jones said. “It’s a perfectly legitimate goal. But that’s the world we live in - someone throws themselves to the floor, and the decision goes against you. It’s incredibly frustrating.”
Despite falling behind early in the second half, Charlton continued to push for an equaliser, with the home support fully behind them until the final whistle.
“We never gave up," said Jones. "We penned them in, we stopped them playing through our press, we kept winning the ball back and creating chances. But again, we just didn’t show that little bit of quality in the final third to get the point, or three, that we deserved.”
Reflecting on how far his side has come, Jones pointed out the gap that existed between the two sides last season.
“Two divisions separated us last year, and today we’ve more than matched them. We know where we are, we know what kind of team we’re building. That’s 33 games where we’ve hardly conceded a real chance, so the foundations are solid.
“We’ve had chances in recent games, against Bristol City, against Watford, and we didn’t take them. Today we created enough to win multiple games. That’s our next step – to start converting those chances and getting the results our performances deserve.”
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