NATHAN Jones has urged Charlton Athletic not to get sucked into the Championship relegation fight after the gap to the bottom three closed from eight to five points following the Addicks’ 2-1 defeat to Preston North End at The Valley.
Joe Rankin-Costello fired home from eight yards from a long throw-in on eighteen minutes.
Charlton had lost four of their previous five home games and were pegged back when Brad Potts crossed from the right and Lewis Dobbin glanced a header past Will Mannion into the far corner.
Dobbin returned the favour when he slipped Potts in on the right for a ten-yard finish into the bottom-left corner in the 65th minute.
Results elsewhere didn’t go Charlton’s way. Portsmouth shocked promotion-chasing Middlesbrough 1-0 at the Riverside and Oxford United beat Watford 2-0 at home.
The U’s are in the last relegation spot with Pompey a point above them having played one game fewer than all of their rivals.
“We didn’t get the second goal in the first half, we didn’t deal with a situation well enough, we didn’t organise from a set play, and then they scored too easy,” Jones said.
“They might think exactly the same, we weren’t relentless enough to take on the start. Second half they were brighter than us, ran harder than us and they got the second goal, and we had to chase the game again.
“We have had enough situations and shots to get the second goal. I’m watching games and teams don’t get the opportunities we do.
“We have shown moments every game we can score a goal, but when we need to get that second goal we just haven’t.
“When we debrief and when we work, we show and we demonstrate what we need. There are little things that aren’t coming together that good teams do.
“All of these games recently should have been put to bed, but we didn’t and that is the home games. We go away from home, don’t create anywhere near as much, but because of how we are defensively, we manage to get points. We just need to demonstrate that touch of real quality.
Charlton have won one of their last six home games. They have two left, against promotion contenders Ipswich Town and Hull City, in between Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough next weekend and Swansea City at the Swansea.com Stadium on the final day.
Jones said: “The performance levels are there to a certain extent and we are creating the chances, and in League One we scored two and threes, but it’s a different level of competition the Championship – it’s a monster of a league. We know that and we have to step our levels up.
“We need a win, and we have taken the pressure off them, but we need to win, categorically, we need a win as soon as possible, we don’t want to get sucked in. From Oxford, the points haul has been really poor.
“We have to dust them down, get them focused and we go again next week.”
