NATHAN Jones said he was “pleased with so much” after Charlton Athletic moved to within one point of the League One play-offs after their 2-0 win against Bristol Rovers at The Valley on Tuesday night.
Matty Godden bagged his tenth goal of the season on his first start since December to put the hosts in front in the thirteenth minute.
The Addicks were dominant and deservedly got their second through Josh Edwards who fired low past goalkeeper Josh Griffiths from the edge of the area nine minutes before half-time.
Ashley Maynard-Brewer saved former Charlton winger Scott Sinclair’s free-kick in the 39th minute but the Gas rarely looked like they had enough to deny Jones’s side.
“I was pleased with so much,” Jones said. “They’re a well-coached, difficult side to play against. I thought out of possession we were outstanding, really aggressive, really brave. We defended our box, with the high press we didn’t allow them to get any fluency and then we looked a threat all night.
“I know we scored two but the keeper has made two or three really good saves first half.
“Second half Godders has missed one that he lost in the lights, Thierry [Small] has had chances and we’ve looked a threat all night. I’m really pleased because these are the games that we’ve come unstuck a little bit.
“The reaction from the Rotherham game has been truly outstanding and I’m really proud of the group.”
Charlton have kept twelve clean sheets in the league this season. They have conceded 26 goals in 27 games, the best outside the top six. Only four teams – Birmingham City, Wrexham, Huddersfield Town and Leyton Orient – have a better record than them.
“This is a hard-working team and we’re really good, really aggressive,” Jones said. “When we came in there was a problem keeping clean sheets, three before we came in and two after that, which wasn’t good enough. So last year it was five clean sheets, we’ve kept twelve in the league, three in the cups, it shows that we’ve improved significantly. If you have that foundation then we believe that the work we do, the players we have and the way that the crowd help then we can be a really good side.
“If you keep clean sheets you only need one, if you score two then you are in a really good position. Tonight we did both sides of the game.”
Charlton travel to Blackpool on Saturday.