Nathan Jones has repeated Luton Town masterstroke at Charlton Athletic - but final outcome isn't the same | OneFootball

It looks like Charlton Athletic are going to repeat a feat completed by Luton Town during their 2018/19 title-winning season.

Nathan Jones seems to have instilled the same never-say-die attitude that his Luton Town players had during the 2018/19 season into his Charlton Athletic squad.

Jones left Luton to join Stoke City midway through that season, but there is no doubt that his summer recruitment, pre-season preparations and game management during the first half of the campaign laid the foundations for the Hatters to go on and win the title in the third tier.

Now, almost six years on from Luton's triumph in League One, Jones is looking to take Charlton back into the Championship, and the Addicks' success so far this season has been largely down to the fact that they never give up until the final whistle has been blown.

Charlton supporters have become accustomed to seeing their side concede late during the last couple of seasons, but so far during the 2024/25 campaign, they have been the ones finding the net in the closing stages of matches, and that could well be down to the impact of Nathan Jones.

Charlton could repeat 2018/19 Luton feat

It is no secret that Jones likes his team to be aggressive in duels, play on the front foot, and maintain a high tempo for the duration of matches, but that is not possible without the right work being done by him and his coaching staff.

Luton's 2018/19 title-winning team had an excellent mentality and fantastic fitness levels, which is why they achieved a feat that Charlton could replicate this season.

No team in League One scored more goals than the Hatters in the final 15 minutes of matches that season, as Jones had built a side that posed a threat right up until the 90th minute, which is exactly what you want as a promotion-chasing side.

Charlton have scored the most goals in the final 15 minutes of League One matches so far this season, while it was revealed that no team across UEFA's top five leagues and the EFL had scored more injury-time goals than the Addicks this term following their late comeback against Leyton Orient on Saturday.

Jones prepared a squad for a League One season for the first time since the 2018/19 campaign during the summer, so it would be difficult to argue that it was a fluke if his side finished the season having scored the most goals in the final 15 minutes of matches once again.

Jones' pre-season preparations seem to pay off

Jones took his Charlton squad away for a pre-season training camp in Slovenia during the summer, which is exactly what the Hatters did under the Welshman ahead of their title-winning campaign over six years ago.

The Addicks' boss discussed the importance of that trip in an interview on the club's official website in July.

"It's one of the most important weeks of pre-season," said Jones.

"The most important thing is to do the work that we need to do.

"We're able to do two sessions a day, we're able to work hard in a fantastic setting, do a lot of tactical work, do a lot of physical work, especially.

"Because we play and train a certain way, it's really important that those messages are applied very early."

Some Charlton supporters were left feeling underwhelmed in early December, after a defeat at home to Crawley Town left the Addicks 13th in League One, but now the hard work that was put in by the players under Jones seems to be paying off, as the team have propelled themselves into the top six and are maintaining a high tempo for the duration of every game.

Even though Charlton are not going to win the League One title like Luton did during the 2018/19 season, they are in an excellent position to repeat the feat of scoring the most late goals, and if they keep up that trend, it will serve them well in their push for promotion via the play-offs.