NATHAN Jones insists he is not worried about raised expectations as Charlton Athletic face Carlisle United in front of a home support buoyed by a six-game unbeaten run and two wins in the last three games.
Addicks fans had little to nothing to cheer from November to late last month as their team went sixteen League One games without a win.
But Jones came in after Michael Appleton was sacked and that unbeaten run has included two draws and a victory in successive games against the top three.
Jones, though, is not getting carried away.
“I’m relatively pleased,” Jones said on Charlton TV head of the game. “When you come in and we’re in the position we were and you lose your first game against Reading, yeah, to have the reaction we’ve had over these six games…I’m never totally satisfied. I think we definitely should have beaten Northampton and possibly Lincoln, so we could have an even better points haul.
“So I’m never totally satisfied, but the players have given me absolutely everything. They’ve bought into everything we’ve tried to do. It’s been a pleasing reaction since that first week.
“We’re only laying foundations, we’re not going into every game thinking we’re the finished article, we’re nowhere near. We’re building something, we’re laying foundations and we know we have to keep things going and start winning games. We’re unbeaten but we’ve won two in six. I’d rather have won four and drawn two and then we can really start pushing up.
“The fans or anyone can [talk about expectations], what we have here is a certain way of working and we take every game as it comes.”
Jones is still looking for a first home win.
He said: “We went to Cheltenham and now we have to back that up with another good performance at home, because we haven’t won a home game yet and we’d like to do that.
“Whether there’s expectation, whether there’s pressure, whatever it is, we’ll handle that. I’m sure, in my tenure at the football club, we’ll be in enough high-pressure situations that we’ll be able to handle, so this will just be another one.
“We’ve had two tough home games. Lincoln are one of the form teams in the division and we should have won that game.
“Then we took on the leaders Portsmouth and it was a real good League One game. We haven’t had any easy fixtures, not that there are any at this level.”
Carlisle are bottom of the table but won their last away game, 1-0 against Burton Albion.
Jones said: “Saturday is going to be a tough, tough game, two teams with a lot to play for this season. We’ve got to be the best version of ourselves and that’s all I can prepare.”
In team news, Jones gave an update on Rarmani Edmonds-Green, who went off against Cheltenham. “It’s nothing serious,” Jones said. “The way the schedule is, the games come thick and fast, there’s travelling and you get a lot of bumps and bruises.
“We’re at the business end of the season so that’s just part and parcel of that.”
