Nigel Adkins was keen to take the positives from Charlton’s 2-2 draw against Crewe Alexandra on Tuesday evening despite the devastating manner of the visitors’ equaliser.
The Addicks twice led through Jayden Stockley and then Alex Gilbey, but were pegged back twice by Owen Dale as the Railwaymen snatched a point deep into stoppage-time.
The Charlton manager said: “We look at it and in the 96th minute we’ve got three points and 97th minute we haven’t. The first goal we’ve scored, what a great goal that was - 14 passes, a diving header and some great interlinking play. Give Crewe a lot of credit because I thought they were the team with the ascendancy. We didn’t know our defensive shape enough to get the ball off them. They passed it really well and moved it round so give them credit.
“Obviously they’ve gone and equalised, so we’ve changed our shape - I thought that was a positive impact. We’ve gone with a different shape and we go and score from a set piece. We’re very dangerous at set pieces. And then when we look at it we’ve probably dropped a bit too deep in the last minute but we’ve still headed three or four balls in the box - real good headers from Ryan Inniss for example. The lads were complaining maybe about a foul, I don’t think it was a foul. And then it’s dropped to the lad who's gone and scored it - our two centre halves just haven’t reacted quick enough to keep it out the back of the net. It was a tough game tonight.”
Adkins has already turned his attention to this weekend’s trip to Accrington Stanley, where a win could see the Addicks return to the play-off spots.
“It’s still in our own hands. We’ve got to pick ourselves up - that could be a very valuable point in the grand scheme of things, because let’s face it: three games to go, it's in our hands. We’ll learn the lessons from the game as we always do and we’ll get the lads prepared for the next game which is really, really important. They’ve worked really hard tonight - scored a great goal, scored another goal from a corner and we just haven’t really seen the game out.
“What we’ve got is a squad of players who are all having a right go for each other - I think that’s the biggest message. We’ve got to pick ourselves up and go for the next one. The fact of the matter is if we get maximum we’re in the play-offs. There’s going to be plenty of twists and turns but it’s in our hands. We know Saturday’s game - the next game - is the most important one and we’ll do everything we can to win that.”
Article by James Waller