NATHAN Jones feels Charlton Athletic are in a “good place” ahead of the start of their League One season this weekend.
The Addicks ended their pre-season campaign with an impressive 2-0 win against Portsmouth, who won the League One title in 2023-24.
Jones was pleased with how the Addicks responded to their 2-0 defeat at AFC Wimbledon the previous weekend.
“I’m pleased. Last week we weren’t really at it but we’re a lot further along now. One week to go, I think we’re in a decent enough place. You saw what we had and how we played,” Jones said on Charlton’s website after the deserved win secured through goals in either half from Tyreece Campbell and Gassan Ahadme in front of a 3,909 attendance at The Valley, 837 of them Pompey fans.
“We’ve still got Miles [Leaburn] and [Matty] Godden to come in, so yeah I think we’re in a good place and you’ve got to be pleased.
“It was a good test, it’s how we wanted it. Portsmouth were in our league last year and now they’re a Championship side, so we would like to emulate them in terms of results and where they finished. I’m very pleased with that overall performance. Plus no injuries so that’s a good thing.”
Jones added: “We just have to be consistent. We want to do the basics right, we want to make sure that we are a certain team, we play aggressive. It was a different type of game in terms of it was a high-quality game. Wimbledon was a bit more of a scrap. We’ve got to learn to be able to do both.
“[Portsmouth] probably had half a chance late on, and that was it, really. We restricted them to shots from range. We had some real, real good opportunities. It could have been more, and that’s the only thing. But I’m pleased with the clean sheet.”
Summer signing Godden missed the game after a head injury he suffered against the Dons.
Jones provided an update ahead of the game away to Wigan Athletic.
“It’s just protocols and everything that we have to do,” Jones said. “But look, we’ve got good competition and a level here that we want to make sure we can continue to do.
“Matty will be back with us on Monday, and Miles is not far off, which is another wonderful thing.
“Sometimes you can be a bit disrupted [in pre-season]. But [on Saturday] it was a little bit more like a real game. We made probably more changes than we wanted to but I felt that the level they were at, it was good. We had an opportunity to get everyone up to speed.
“By the coming Thursday when we do our game prep and everything, I think we’ll be ready for the challenge ahead.”
The game against the Latics kicks off at 5.30pm this Saturday.
