MICHAEL Appleton described Charlton’s 2-1 Valley triumph over Cheltenham as the best yet since his appointment as manager.
The Addicks found themselves trailing to Will Goodwin’s 10th minute header, only for goal machine Alfie May to level from the spot seven minutes later following a foul by Lewis Freestone on Miles Leaburn.
Leaburn was forced off before the break with what looked like a hamstring injury and his replacement Slobodan Tedic was then unlucky to be denied by a fine Luke Southward stop.
Only the post prevented the lively Corey Blackett-Taylor firing the hosts ahead on the stroke of half-time as Charlton piled on the pressure.
How Tedic failed to head home May’s early second-half cross remains a mystery, but his blushes were spared when the Addicks were presented with their second spot-kick of the game four minutes from time.
Will Ferry can consider himself very unfortunate to have been adjudged to have handled Tyreece Campbell’s delivery, as it didn’t appear the Cheltenham wing-back could’ve done much to prevent contact with the ball.
Nevertheless, former Cheltenham striker May once again showed no mercy against his old club to smash home his, and Charlton’s second, penalty of the evening with what proved to be the winning goal.
And Appleton was quite blunt when asked to describe the significance of the result in what was his 16th game in charge since succeeding Dean Holden.
“I would probably go as far as saying it is the best win since I’ve been here by an absolute distance,” the Addicks boss told Charlton TV.
“There are so many factors really. I don’t think people realise at times how hard and difficult it can be dealing with the way the opposition play.
“It came in on numerous occasions where we had to deal with it, where we had to deal with the ugly side of the game, which disrupted the way we played a little bit.
“We got caught up in that a little bit at times. It was obviously a scrappy win, but one that we are obviously delighted to have.
“Although what I would say is that the game should have been out of sight by half-time with the opportunities we had in that first-half.”
The second period may well have been a more tentative affair than the opening 45 minutes, but Appleton was impressed by his side’s resilience against a struggling team which still managed to beat Oxford 2-0 on Saturday.
“I thought the players held their nerve,” the Valley gaffer said.
“It would have been easy to rush thing things and go gung-ho a little bit in the second-half.
“I just felt this game for Cheltenham was a little bit of a free hit because they were constantly leaving two up, and sometimes three up, maybe on the back of a result that they got at the weekend.
“It was all there for us to lose rather than anything else and I’m delighted that we got through it.”
