Football League World
·23 October 2024
In partnership with
Yahoo sportsFootball League World
·23 October 2024
Nathan Jones was disappointed with Charlton Athletic's performance during their 2-2 draw with Barnsley on Tuesday night.
Charlton Athletic thought they had taken all three points against Barnsley when substitute Luke Berry scored his second goal of the night in stoppage time, but the hosts found an even later equaliser, and Nathan Jones was left to rue his side's performance.
The Addicks went into the game with confidence, despite missing a few key players through injury, having produced impressive performances in both of their last two fixtures - with a victory over high-fliers Birmingham City and a draw against Stockport County to show for it.
However, Charlton had lost their previous two away games in League One, and they were also without a win in their last five visits to Oakwell ahead of kick-off, with a 6-0 win in April 2013 being the last time that the Addicks tasted victory against the Tykes away from The Valley.
Nathan Jones was forced to watch from the stands after being shown his third yellow card of the season against Stockport on Saturday, and he did not like much of what he saw from his alternative viewpoint across the 90 minutes.
While the Addicks could have taken the lead inside the first minute when Miles Leaburn created a chance for himself that was saved by Gabriel Slonina, Barnsley deserved their lead when it came in the 34th minute.
Will Mannion failed to hold onto a driven effort from Stephen Humphrys, who impressed for the hosts, and Davis Keillor-Dunn was on hand to turn home the rebound.
Charlton could easily have found themselves further behind in the second half, as Leaburn cleared a shot off the line and Mannion's crossbar was rattled by a powerful effort on goal.
However, the visitors found their equaliser when substitute Luke Berry was quickest to react to a loose ball in the area and fired a well-taken volley into the bottom corner in front of the travelling fans.
It got even better for the Addicks in the third minute of stoppage time when Slonina failed to deal with a floated cross from Tyreece Campbell, with a chance falling to Berry on the edge of the box, who lifted the ball over the goalkeeper and into the empty net to seemingly snatch all three points against his former club.
With less than a minute remaining, a long-ball from Slonina was flicked on and dropped at the feet of Max Watters, who produced an excellent left-footed finish to break Charlton hearts and ensure that both sides would be leaving with a share of the spoils.
Nathan Jones was not impressed with his team's performance during an interview reported on by London News Online after the game.
"I'm bitterly disappointed," said the Welshman.
"The level of performance was a mile off what I expected, what we prepared for and what we did.
"If we had done the basics better tonight then we would have won the game.
"Both of their goals came from us not winning headers. They hit the bar from us not winning headers.
"We should've won the game, to be fair, but even in the 94th minute I wasn't sure of us seeing it out because some of the stuff I saw tonight wasn't stuff we work on - a little bit crazy."
Of course, Charlton could have seen out the remainder of stoppage time and earned a valuable three points that would have left them fifth in the League One table rather than 11th, but they also could have done more in terms of their overall performance.
Barnsley won 21 tackles to Charlton's nine and won 35 aerial battles while the Addicks won just 28, two aspects of the game that Jones would usually expect to see his team come out on top in, especially during a game in which they were not dominant in terms of creating chances - the hosts had 20 shots and only faced eight.
Jones' interview further highlighted how disappointed he was with his players, and he also believed that his touchline ban may have had an impact.
“We made the changes because we weren’t doing the basics. I had defenders who didn’t head it, I had defenders who didn’t defend the box, I had midfielders that got over-run – we had four-v-three in there and got over-run. That is not what I want from my football team. Anyone who sees my football team would say ‘they are at it’. We were a mile off where we need to be tonight," said Jones.
“It was a difficult night for me because for whatever reason I was in the stands – I don’t feel I can affect the game like that. I felt they needed driving tonight because they were a mile off it, the intensity and aggression.”