NATHAN Jones hailed his “magnificent” Charlton Athletic side after their 3-1 victory at Cheltenham Town on Tuesday night – before joking Alfie May was doing his former team a “favour” before scoring against them.
Tyreeq Bakinson scored four minutes from time before and May added the clincher in the last minute as the Addicks stretched their unbeaten run to six games.
Daniel Kanu had put the visitors in front on nineteen minutes before Liam Sercombe’s 70th-minute equaliser.
Charlton have now won two of their last three games after not winning any of their previous sixteen in League One.
The victory moved them up to fourteenth, seven points above the relegation zone as Jones continues to make a dramatic impact after replacing the sacked Michael Appleton.
“I thought we were magnificent,” Jones said on Charlton TV. “This is a real brutal place to come: how they play, they put you under pressure, you’ve got to win first, you’ve got to win seconds, you’ve got to handle so much intensity and I thought we were brilliant.
“I’d have taken any win tonight. But an away win against these with the way that they’re performing shows that we’re in a really good place.
“Once again we showed character, we showed quality. After leading and not being under too much pressure, once we conceded we handled it, made changes and then took the game away from them.
Jones added: “Daniel Kanu was a threat all night, and he kept going. I’m pleased for Tyreeq because we left Tyreeq out on the weekend and he’s come back in and scored.”
May, 30, joined Charlton from Cheltenham for £250,000 last summer. He has scored eighteen league goals this season.
Jones said: “I thought he was doing them a favour, right up until he tapped that one in the net, because he had a lot of chances to score tonight.
“We played him because he’s used to scoring on this ground. So I’m pleased for him that he scored.”
Both of Charlton’s wins in seven games under Jones have been away from home.
They haven’t won at The Valley since beating Cheltenham 2-1 there last November.
Charlton are back home on Saturday when they face bottom side Carlisle United.
“The games are thick and fast,” Jones said. “I’ve had seven games since I’ve been here, and five of them have been away.
“We’ve been on the road so we’ve been travelling, just preparing. The schedule is just crazy.
“The fans were magnificent again tonight, and to travel here after everything that’s been going on. So it’s a really good night for the football club.”
