Charlton Athletic boss Nathan Jones: 'December is a huge month for us - we need to get some points on the board'

Charlton Athletic manager Nathan Jones has not downplayed the importance of their December fixtures after a fourth successive Championship loss - this time a 3-1 reverse at Coventry City.

Harvey Knibbs put the Addicks into a 13th-minute lead this afternoon, his second goal since a summer transfer from Reading.

And the south Londoners carried a threat on the counter-attack with Isaac Olaofe having a shot saved by Coventry City goalkeeper Carl Rushworth in the 20th minute.

Olaofe was also close to connecting with Tyreece Campbell’s strike and Lloyd Jones had an attempt headed off the goal-line.

Charlton were forced into a defensive reshuffle when Amari’i Bell, making his first start since missing three matches with a hamstring injury, came off at the half-hour mark.

Bell had been an unused substitute for Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat at Stoke City.

Josh Eccles levelled for the Sky Blues in the 40th minute. Ellis Simms headed in from a corner to ensure Frank Lampard’s table-toppers went in 2-1 up at the interval.

Simms netted his second in the 76th minute, finishing from close range after Jack Rudoni’s shot was blocked.

“I’m really disappointed with the manner of the goals,” said Jones. “We know how they score and we’ve done work to combat that. The set-play goal is a really difficult one to take - that should have been avoidable.

“They are a side that is flying at the moment and we’re a side that is patching up things. There are no sour grapes, although I can say things about a couple of offsides that weren’t when we are clean in.

“The level of performance I’m relatively happy with, because there were so many positives from it. First half we had the majority of the better chances - three or four glorious chances on the counter attack - and the header off the line.

“The first-half we had to change shape because you can’t play Amari’i as a wing-back because of his hamstring. We tried to force him back because we effectively have three fit defenders.

“The bigger risk would have been to play him on Tuesday. We gave him a few extra days and played him as a full-back not a wing-back - TC (Tyreece Campbell) was doing most of the volume. The only thing was he (Bell) had a big sprint early on and then felt something. You can’t risk it (keeping him on) because then you lose him.

“Even when we made enforced changes, Sonny Carey had a good opportunity. With a little bit better decision-making then I think we’d have gone in further ahead.”

Charlton are 17th in the table. There is a six-point gap to the play-offs and also the same cushion to the relegation zone.

The Addicks host 22nd-placed Portsmouth next Saturday in a lunchtime kick off.

“It has been a really tough week - Southampton, Stoke away and then the leaders away,” said Jones. “There is a lot of context around that, we’ve had three out of four away games, which is hard to do, and been stretched in most departments.

“I’m proud of the application and what they have done.

“Now we have to go into December, stem the tide and make sure we come out of that month in a significantly better position than we are now.

“We have to make sure we pick up points that month. We need to reboot on Monday because we have got some big games - and games we need to win.

“January will give us opportunities to strengthen in the areas we need to and also get people back. We’ve got [Reece] Burke, [Charlie] Kelman and hopefully Josh Edwards to come back. [Matty] Godden is not far off.

“We have to make sure we stay in the hunt and stay competitive. It’s been a brutal week - three sides in wonderful form and have been used to playing at this level and above. We can’t get too down. We need to dust ourselves down and then build up to a massively important game at home at The Valley.”

Knibbs made way at the start of the second half for Greg Docherty.

Jones confirmed that was also an enforced move.

“Just a tight groin. You have to make it at half-time because if you do it five minutes into the second half then you’ve used two substitution windows. He’s probably a bit disappointed to come off because he had scored. You have to make these decisions because you want to win football games.”

Pictures: Kyle Andrews

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