Johnnie Jackson was thrilled to see his side edge a frenetic affair against AFC Wimbledon in SE7 to move into the top half of the Sky Bet League One table.
Strikes from Ryan Inniss, Conor Washington and Akin Famewo, who notched the first goal of his career, ensured Charlton recorded a third successive win in the third-tier.
“It was thrilling for someone who’s not quite as involved as me!” Jackson told CharltonTV. “My heart was going towards the end there because we hadn’t put the game out of sight. I don’t want games to be like that, as open as it was at times and end-to-end.
“We’ve come away on the right side of a five-goal thriller as you call it, but that’s not how I want it to be every week. I don’t think we were quite at our best today. We allowed them too many opportunities and allowed them to be in the game for too long.”
The Addicks were forced into an early change after just 12 minutes when Corey Blackett-Taylor limped off, though the boss was delighted with the immediate impact made by his replacement, Diallang Jaiyesimi.
“Obviously we were gutted to lose Corey that early in the game,” said Jackson. “I thought he had an excellent game on Monday night at Fratton Park and we were really excited about him going into this game. He felt a little twinge in his hamstring early in the game and he’s had to come off.
“It can be difficult to come into a game that early, especially mentally and to get up to the speed of the game as well, but I thought DJ did excellently when he came on. He obviously had a massive hand in Conor [Washington]’s goal and that’s credit to him. He stayed ready, he wasn’t sat there disappointed; he was ready to come on and impact it and he’s done that.
“We do a lot of work as a coaching staff,” added the gaffer. “My coaches work tirelessly on our game plan, implementing it both in and out of possession and looking at ways that you can hurt the opposition. We really felt that Conor’s movement down the sides and balls in between or balls down the side would really cause them problems.
“Conor scored a similar goal against Wimbledon last year here and we worked on that, but someone has to provide the ammo. DJ recognised the space and then to execute a pass like that with the outside of his boot was first class.”
There was a minute’s applause from all four corners of The Valley ahead of kick-off as the club paid tribute to Charlton supporter Ben Jay, who sadly passed away on Friday after bravely battling a rare form of liver cancer, with Inniss dedicating the Addicks’ opening goal to Ben by holding a shirt aloft.
“It’s heart wrenching news for all of us at the club this week,” said Jackson. “Myself and a few of the lads were with Ben just last week when we climbed over The O2. He and his family came down and saw that. We had a quick catch up then and you’re hoping that it wouldn’t be the last time, but then obviously the news hit yesterday. It’s heartbreaking for us all.
“It was lovely that his family could be here and that we could pay tribute because this club is a family. When you can do things like that it really means a lot to the people that are involved.”