Dean Holden said his Addicks wouldn’t be looking to blame anyone else for their disappointing run of results, after they were beaten 2-1 at Oxford United on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s a no excuse culture,” the boss told CharltonTV. “We deserved more from the game again but we didn’t get it. It’s not about luck. You earn your luck. We have to front up and get back to work quickly.”
After a fast start, the gaffer was disappointed with the team’s reaction to conceding first: “We started getting ragged after that point. We started getting pulled apart. They had a lot of territory, and that was the reason we changed the shape and made some personnel changes,” he said.
Holden was pleased with how those changes allowed the Addicks to get back into the match in the second half: “We came right out of the traps, got right on top of them, took the game to them and we really deserved the equaliser,” he said.
In particular, he was impressed with the Campbells - Tyreece having returned from injury and Chem having signed on loan this week from Wolverhampton Wanderers.
“I thought Chem Campbell’s debut was excellent,” said the boss. “Tyreece as well. He came in, he’s only trained once since his injury so really pleased that he could get back on the pitch. I thought those two in particular linked up really well and gave them real problems.”
But despite the positives, Holden rued the fact that his side could not salvage a draw from the match. “We’ve got to see that game out and get at least a point to build on, but unfortunately we’ve been hit with a sucker punch again,” he said.
“It’s about regrouping quickly,” he concluded. “We’ll keep looking to find the answers. We’re very, very close to getting the next result, and then I’ve got absolutely no doubt our season will take off.”
