CHARLTON Athletic boss Nathan Jones has called on the Valley faithful to get behind the side after a brutal November that included four successive defeats and the concession of twelve goals that sent them hurtling down the table to seventeenth ahead of the Christmas schedule.
After an unbeaten run of five games had the Addicks sat in sixth early last month, a 1-0 defeat to Wrexham started the current losing run and a cascade of goals going into their own net in losses to Southampton, Stoke City and leaders Coventry City.
That 5-1 Saints defeat was their first in the league at home since August and only their second all season.
Charlton were ambitious in last summer’s transfer window, spending well over a combined £10million on players as well as using the free-agent market to recruit top-scorer Sonny Carey and Amari’i Bell.
Charlton are enjoying their highest average attendances in almost two decades, with over 20,000 at six of their home games this season.
Three of their last four matches were on the road. Jones is glad to be back in SE7, with three of their next four games in their own back yard, starting with the lunchtime kick-off against Portsmouth this Saturday.
Jones said: “I’m delighted we’ve got two home games. We’re going to need everyone to get behind us. We knew that we’d have tough spells in this league. What I didn’t imagine is the injuries that would happen, which has meant that we’re patching things up a little bit and that’s a frustrating thing.
“December’s a big month for us. It’ll define what we do and we’ve got to stay in and around it. We’ve got to pick up results and then once we do that, we’ll be able to strengthen in January, we’ll get people back and then we can be a bit more us.”
