MICHAEL Appleton admitted his Charlton side simply weren’t good enough to beat non-league minnows Cray Valley PM in the FA Cup this evening.
The Addicks were unable to build on Scott Fraser’s ninth minute opener and were stunned early in the second half when Kyrell Lisbie’s low ball across the box was put into his own net by Lucas Ness.
Appleton made 11 changes to the starting line-up and although the likes of Alfie May, Miles Leaburn, Louie Watson, Nathan Asiimwe and Tennai Watson eventually came on, Charlton were unable to regain the lead against battling Cray Valley.He said: “We weren’t good enough, there is no doubt about that. We weren’t technically good enough at times and we didn’t show enough nous.
“I think they were working hard. Sometimes from an anxiety point of view you get drained and tired because it is not quite working for you, but I think overall you have to give them hell of a lot of credit.
“They put their body on the line, they got numbers behind the ball, defended when they had to defend and then they had a couple of moments themselves.
“We are aware of that and we will sort of be mindful of that going into the replay. We were expected to win the game today. We were massive favourites obviously.
“The underdogs have come here and they’ve got the replay, but we’ve seen in various games over the weekend that sometimes it doesn’t go to plan.
“But the one thing I will say is we’ve got another opportunity to put it right, I’ve got another opportunity to put it right and hopefully we will.”Appleton also dropped a big hint it will be a while before some of Charlton’s fringe players get the opportunity to stake a claim after falling short against non-league opposition.
The SE7 manager explained: “We are obviously disappointed not to go through.
“I’m disappointed at three or four of the group, maybe even more, that I expected more from. I thought they would be better.
“But what I have seen tonight is I’ve had a good look at how certain players in the group deal with a little bit of disappointment, how they deal with anxiety and how they deal with coping with disappointments.
“Some have shone ok but some others have given me something to think about in terms of when I need to use them again.”
For opposite number Steve McKimm, the emotions were understandably a bit more upbeat after his battling side secured the most impressive result in the Eltham side’s history.He said: “I can’t speak highly enough of my players. They were unbelievable.
“We knew we were up against it, even more so when they bring the five big guns on.
“To a player they were unbelievable. At half-time I told them to believe in themselves.
“We were on a hiding to nothing, but when you give belief to players, anything can happen.”
