NATHAN Jones admitted to “embarrassment” after Charlton Athletic’s 3-1 defeat to League Two Cambridge United in the EFL Cup second round at the Abbey Stadium on Tuesday evening.
Jones, who made eleven changes to his side, saw the visitors fall two goals down within 30 minutes as James Brophy and Kylian Kouassi struck for former Millwall boss Neil Harris’ hosts.
Ibrahim Fullah pulled a goal back just before half-time before Zak Bradshaw restored his side’s two-goal lead ten minutes into the second half.
The Addicks had Karoy Anderson sent off twelve minutes into added-time after his high boot connected with the head of Ibsen Rossi.
“It’s a mixture of embarrassment and real disappointment,” Jones said. “We know we were stretched defensively tonight with the changes we made, but I still expected us to do the basics well: to compete, to out-work the opposition. That’s part of our culture here and we didn’t do it – we got schooled.”
Jones added: “We gave away poor goals. The press wasn’t right, we allowed runners off the back, and our marking in the box wasn’t good enough. Those are things we usually pride ourselves on, and tonight we didn’t do them. In the Championship we’ve gone three games without conceding a chance and here we conceded three in one night. That shows where we’re at in terms of depth, and it’s something we have to address.”
Jones did see some positives. He said: “Ibrahim’s goal was excellent, and there were bright sparks when lads like Henry Rylah and Keenan Gough came on. We finished the game with almost a full academy side apart from Tanto [Olaofe]. For Ollie Hobden and Keenan it was a proud moment making their debuts. But at the end of the day, playing in the first team is about winning games, and tonight we didn’t deserve anything.”
Charlton travel to Queens Park Rangers on Saturday for a 12.30pm kick-off aiming to bounce back from their 1-0 defeat to Leicester City at The Valley.
“The Championship is a totally different level and we’ll make changes back again,” Jones said. “But we’ll need to be considerably better than we were tonight. In fact, I expect us to be. I can’t remember the last time one of my teams was out-run and out-battled like that. It’s a learning curve for the younger lads, and also for the senior ones who were out there. We’ve got to learn quickly.”
Harris felt the U’s were fully deserving of their win.
He said: “Cup football is all about getting through,” Harris said. “Playing well, playing badly, however you win you just have to get through and we’ve done that.
“In the meantime we’ve played extremely well, scored some really good goals, and I thought were the better team against a very strong Championship outfit.
“You expect teams to make changes at this stage of the season, it’s only natural. For me it’s about making sure everyone knows their roles and that when people step in they showcase themselves to the best of their ability.
“You can’t argue that any player who stepped in tonight or was on that pitch tonight didn’t show real quality.”
