Dean Holden was pleased to see his side dig in and respond with a 1-0 win at MK Dons on Tuesday following a heavy defeat at Ipswich Town at the weekend.
The Addicks defended sturdily and caused the home team problems in the second half, creating a number of chances either side of Jack Payne’s 61st minute winner.
Speaking to CharltonTV after the game, Dean Holden said: “I think the supporters turning up tonight were wondering what they were going to see. I think it was the perfect response in terms of the result - a 1-0 win away from home. It was a really nice response from what happened on Saturday.
“I think we started particularly well. I thought we showed real personality in the first half in terms of the way we took hold of the game. Tactically it wasn’t easy, because you are playing against a team away from home who were fighting for their lives. They sat in that really low, deep block, so there wasn’t many spaces in there. Having said that we penetrated them quite a few times through the lines through the midfield.
"You’ve got to remember without [Tyreece] Campbell and Corey Blackett-Taylor down that left-hand side to stretch the opposition. We’ve got Payney in there who is not naturally going to do that, so we’ve got to find different ways and we got through the pitch really well. It was just end product in the first half; we couldn’t quite find the right bit of quality once we got in their final third. We just needed to shore it up and find that moment of quality.
“I think in the second half we started a bit sluggishly for the first 10-12 minutes. I looked at the scoreboard around the 57th minute and we started to get a grip of it again. And then we put the hammer down. It’s some goal from Payney, it’s a fantastic finish and good build-up to it. I’m pleased for him because of the red card a few weeks ago. It’s not been an easy time for him.
“Then I thought we saw the game out really comfortably. We had to dig in right at the end but we could have won it by more.
“I’m really pleased for everybody concerned. It hopefully shows the way we as a group have handled the drubbing at the weekend. I think we handled it in the right way - the players maintained their confidence and there was a committed display out there.”
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