CHARLTON Athletic suffered a 2-1 defeat to Preston North End in their rearranged FA Cup third-round tie at Deepdale on Tuesday night.
Milutin Osmajic struck once in either half after Luke Berry’s 40th-minute equaliser to book a home tie against Wycombe Wanderers.
Chuks Aneke was denied a later leveller when Freddie Woodman produced a brilliant save from his header.
Adddicks boss Nathan Jones felt his side’s performance augurs well for a potential promotion challenge in League One. They are seven points off the top six.
“We’ve got a good squad,” Jones said. “We haven’t proved it the first half of the season. But I think we’ve got a Championship-level squad, I really do.
“You look at our midfield and you look at their midfield, there’s nothing in it. We’ve got three players in there. Connor Coventry’s a Championship player. Doc [Greg Docherty] has played most of his career [in the Championship and Scottish Premiership]. Luke Berry’s played in the Premier League last year. We’ve got a Championship-level squad.
“We add the youth and pace and power that we have in wide areas, we’ve got strikers, we’ve got a lot of quality in the squad. We know we can compete.
“And tonight we didn’t come here and sit back and try to nick a point. We went after the Championship side – and there was no difference.”