Johnnie Jackson wants to see his players use the disappointment of their midweek Papa John’s Trophy exit as fuel for Monday night’s Sky Bet League One fixture at Portsmouth.
The boss was naturally frustrated to see the Addicks bow out of the competition at the quarter-final stage, though views Monday as the perfect opportunity for his side to bounce back in front of the Sky Sports cameras.
“We have to pick the lads up and go again,” Jackson said. “You can’t dwell on it, it’s gone now. We have to try and use that disappointment as fuel going into a really big game on Monday night on TV against a rival in the league; what better way to try and get over the disappointment of going out of the cup with a big league game.”
The Addicks returned to winning ways in the third-tier with a 2-0 triumph over Fleetwood at The Valley last time out, and Jackson stressed the importance of backing up that result with another positive showing at Fratton Park.
“I was really pleased with that win against Fleetwood and the nature of it with two goals and a clean sheet,” he explained. It was important because we needed that. We have to try and build on that. Obviously we were in a little bit of a rut with our league form but we got that win that we needed and it’s important now that we build on that. It was a good win. The second-half was a really good performance, we looked solid in that period.
“We’ve got a good few days here at the training ground now to work on stuff that we feel is going to be beneficial going into Monday as we try and put back-to-back wins together.”
The gaffer reported no fresh injury concerns ahead of the Addicks’ trip to the south coast, though revealed new recruit Nile John will be assessed in the coming days having only just begun full training with his new team-mates.
“There were no fresh injury concerns coming out of the game at Hartlepool,” Jackson revealed. “Obviously it’s still Stockley and Forster-Caskey that are missing longer-term. We’re unlikely to have Stockley back before Monday but hopefully we’ll see him before too long.”
“It’s too early to say if Nile will feature on Monday. He hasn’t really trained with the group yet. Today [Friday] he’ll be in full training with the group for the first time.
“He’s an exciting young talent that’s well thought of at Tottenham and we’re really pleased to have him on board,” he added. “We’ll be getting a good look at him, trying to integrate him into the way that we want to do things here in the next few days with a view to Monday. We’ll make a call on that obviously over what we see over the next few days.”
Meanwhile, Jackson confirmed talks will continue for potential further business as the January transfer window nears its conclusion.
“We’re working on some things behind the scenes,” he said. “Me, Steve [Gallen, Director of Recruiting], Martin Sandgaard [Director of Analysis] and the Owner, we’re obviously in discussions about what we want to do, what we feel we need to do and we’re working on bringing that to fruition.
“There’s a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes. It’s not always straightforward but we’ll be trying to maybe do something just before that window shuts.”