NATHAN Jones hailed “a wonderful night” after Charlton Athletic’s statement 3-0 win over Ipswich Town at Portman Road on Tuesday night sent them up to fifth in the Championship.
Sonny Carey, Macaulay Gillesphey and Miles Leaburn scored in a twelve-minute spell after half-time.
Kieran McKenna’s side hadn’t been beaten at home this season and were better in the first half. Ivan Azon had an effort saved by Addicks goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski and Chuba Akpom hit the crossbar.
But the game changed when Carey drove a low shot past Christian Walton in the 52nd minute.
Gillesphey headed in the second three minutes later and Leaburn further stunned the home side with another header in the 64th minute.
“I am very proud of the performance, first and foremost. To come away here, this is one of the toughest places to come, if not the toughest place in the Championship,” Jones said.
“They’re a very, very good side and for us to do what we did shows that we’re in a good place.
“I felt we started slowly, I felt we were really passive for the first 25 minutes and allowed them to come on to us and we had to rectify that. Once we got to grips with it and we were a bit more aggressive in our play, then I felt we were well worth the win.”
It was Charlton’s fifth clean sheet of the season.
Jones said: “You don’t come to Ipswich and win 3-0 if you haven’t defended very, very well. We had to defend our box wonderfully well. We had to put our bodies on the line. We’re demanding a lot from the players, so I’m so proud. I’m proud of the football club, it’s a wonderful night for us.”
There were almost 2,000 Charlton supporters in the 28,006 crowd.
“The fans were absolutely outstanding, they travelled on a difficult night, the weather was bad, a Tuesday night coming to Ipswich is not the easiest place,” Jones said. “I thought they were wonderful and I’m just glad we could give them a performance. The rapport we have now [is great]. Be proud of yourselves because we’re in a good place as a club.”
