By Paul Green at The Valley
NATHAN Jones was delighted to see Macauley Gillesphey’s patience rewarded after he came off the bench to set Charlton on their way to an emphatic 3-0 victory over Blackburn over Blackburn Rovers at The Valley.
Last season’s play-off final goal hero had yet to start a Championship game for the Addicks. with the defender once again named among the substitutes for the visit of Rovers.
But with Josh Edwards forced off injured midway through the first half, Gillesphey entered the fray and soon headed Charlton in front after 31 minutes by connecting with James Bree’s free-kick.
Sonny Carey doubled the advantage with a stinging 78th minute effort before Bree wrapped up victory deep into added-time to secure back-to-back wins for the SE7 outfit.
Jones said: “I’m really pleased and proud of him because he has been hard done by.
“He scored the winner in the play-off final and not to start any of the first seven games is tough.
“That’s tough to take but I spoke to him yesterday and said it is tough.
“He has come on and he was immense today, stepped in and scored, not just the goal but his overall performance.
“You look at Reece Burke, Lloyd Jones, Amari’i Bell when he had to step into midfield – they were relentless.
“The game-changers we brought on were phenomenal.
“I’m really proud of that performance because I thought we were excellent.”
The win lifts Jones’ side up to seventh in the Championship, just one place and a solitary point outside of the play-offs.
And head coach Jones believes the Addicks’ impressive start to life back in the Championship could have been even better had they taken more than one point from their previous two Valley fixtures.
The Welshman explained: “If we had that clinical element against Leicester we would have won the game.
“If we had that clinical element against Millwall we would probably have won.
“Over a 46-game period, I’m sure we will have games where we might not deserve to win and do.
“I just thought we were outstanding from start to finish.
“It is how I want us to play. Out of possession we were aggressive, we defended our box fantastically well and I can’t remember Thomas (Kaminski) having a save to make.”
Jones added: “Blackburn are a good side. They score goals, they are fluid away from home and they are better than they’ve been at home.
“(Todd) Cantwell is a wonderful technician and the front three or four are very difficult to nail down, but in the second half we played with an intensity that was wonderful.”
