MICHAEL Appleton questioned Charlton’s killer instinct in front of goal after they were held 1-1 by Carlisle United.
The Addicks were unfortunate not to go in at the break after Corey Blackett-Taylor’s shot hit the woodwork.
Appleton’s side began the second-half strongly and were rewarded on 54 minutes when Blackett-Taylor fired the visitors ahead from close range.
Blackett-Taylor almost added a second, only to be kept out by a fine Tomas Holy stop.
And the visitors were made to rue not making their dominance count as Sam Lavelle equalised in the 62nd minute to ensure the honours were shared.
“The players looked like they were enjoying themselves, just lacked that sort of killer instinct,” a frustrated Appleton told Charlton TV.
“Once you go the goal ahead, you think ‘go on, go and really punish them’.
“We weren’t capable of doing that today and maybe that’s where we are as a group.
“Where(as) some of the teams at the top end of the table maybe when they go ahead, they know how to kill a game and put a team to bed.
“Maybe we are just on that journey at the minute trying to do it and figure out what that looks like.”
The result lifts Charlton up one place to 10th in the League One table, although the manager felt it was a missed opportunity to get closer to the play-off places.
“I think it is two points lost,” admitted Appleton.
“I thought we played well in the game and probably dominated the majority of the game in terms of chances, possession etc.
“It doesn’t always guarantee you a win.
“I’m disappointed a little bit about the lack of concentration for the goal because I didn’t really see them as being too much of a threat, other than that.
“It was one of them where you’ve got to make sure sometimes that when you’ve got teams on the ropes, which we did after that first goal.
“We had a spell of five or 10 minutes where we looked like we were going to score every time we attacked, we scored the first one and we weren’t aggressive enough in that final third.”
Appleton also questioned why his attacking players weren’t better placed to capitalise on some of the opportunities which fell Charlton’s way.
He added: “I said to the players I don’t know how many times the goalkeeper parried the ball today and there wasn’t a black shirt within a yard, yard and a half of them.
“Little things like that can be quite frustrating but ultimately it is another point on board.
!We’ve got two home games coming up in Cheltenham and Cambridge and hopefully we can get maximum points.”
