Dean Holden felt the Addicks weren’t able to replicate the ruthlessness and quality shown in recent weeks in a 1-0 loss to Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Stadium.
John Marquis’ second-half penalty was enough for the home side, despite some late chances for the Addicks.
Speaking to CharltonTV after the game, Holden said: “I’m disappointed that our winning run has come to an end. We’ve ended up losing the game on a penalty. I don’t think there was much in the game to be fair. I think they gave us the biggest credit with their team selection. They’ve left out [Archie] Collins, who is arguably their best player, to block up that midfield.
“They’ve made it difficult for us, they’ve defended the key spaces and ultimately we’ve not been able to get our wide players and maybe Miles [Leaburn] into the game as much as we’d have liked. Ash [Maynard-Brewer] has had a good save to make in the first half but there wasn’t much in the game.
“We wanted to get a head of steam in the second half, there was a lot of stop-starts. We had some good moments, we created some chances – not as many as we’d like – but we had some gilt-edged ones. I think back to Ryan [Inniss]’s header from the free kick right in the middle of the six-yard box, Macauley [Bonne] at the end as well and Miles’ knockdown was cleared off the line – we just weren’t ruthless enough today in that final part of the pitch. We got in time and again in the first half but we were hitting the first man and the quality wasn’t where it has been in recent weeks and that is why we end up losing the game.”
