NATHAN Jones asked Charlton fans to “stay positive” as he promised the side would get better after his first game in charge ended in a 2-0 defeat at relegation rivals Reading.
Femi Azeez’s double in the second half saw the Royals leapfrog the Addicks into eighteenth place. Jones’s side are now level on points with Port Vale in the last relegation place ahead of his first game at The Valley on Tuesday against tenth-place Lincoln City.
Charlton are now winless in their last thirteen League One games and haven’t kept a clean sheet in their last nineteen, since beating Reading 4-0 last October.
There were almost 3,000 Charlton fans in the 14,554 crowd.
“I’m disappointed for them because they wanted to come and see a performance and a result,” Jones said on Charlton TV. “They didn’t get to see that, but look, it’s four days in to something, so what they have to do is stay positive and stay with the team and we’ll get better.
“I’m disappointed with the goals. Both of the goals come from the long throw. We talked about it. We’ve not done our defensive disciplines well and if you don’t keep clean sheets then you won’t win enough games. So that’s the disappointing thing.
“I’ve learned a lot today, that’s the important thing. I had four days with them, I saw a lot of good things and I’m finding out about each individual day in, day out. I’ve learned a lot more today.
“Never mind what you do in training and what you see in their comfort zone. What you see today, you then learn from that. Normally you can learn in preseason. We can’t, we haven’t got that luxury.
“What we have to do is make sure we start getting points because we can’t let this form continue because it will cost us.”
Jones handed goalkeeper Harry Isted his first start since September with Ashley Maynard-Brewer on the bench. Jones managed Isted at Luton Town.
Jones explained: “I know him, and we haven’t kept a clean sheet so sometimes you change stuff to try and find a solution.”
Jones added: I’ve leant a lot today so hopefully I can make more education decisions going into Tuesday. That’s all you can do.
“Week-in, week-out we’re going to learn a lot about them. What we have to do is make sure we start getting points because we can’t let this form continue because it will cost us.
“It’s a learning curve, that’s what we’ve got to do today. Move on, because we’ve got games coming thick and fast.”
