Nathan Jones was pleased with his side’s display in a 2-1 away win at Cambridge United in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy.
The Charlton Manager made 11 changes from the side that beat Shrewsbury Town at the weekend and was thrilled with what he saw.
Speaking to CharltonTV post-match, Jones said: "I'm absolutely delighted with so much. I'm a little bit annoyed with Karoy [Anderson]'s challenge for the penalty. The other one, you know, we encourage an element of aggression so I'm not going to... it's silly because he's on a booking. But that one's probably the only negative for the night.
"Apart from that, I thought we were outstanding. First-half we were absolutely outstanding. Apart from the penalty and the odd counter-attack, we controlled the game. This is a young group of players who haven't played regularly. We've just had four-and-a-half hours on a bus because of the traffic, so taking all of that into consideration I'm absolutely delighted.
“Then second-half, they've been very strong, they've made strong changes and we had chances to put the game to bed, but we didn't. We go down to 10 men and then we cling on, defend our box and I've got a 17-year-old lad [Alan Mwamba] making his debut. I'm absolutely delighted - it's just a good night for the football club."
Jones’ side have Bromley and Chelsea U21s to play at The Valley in the competition later this year and he believes tonight's display highlights the quality he has in his squad.
He said: “It’s another competition we want to be strong in. That’s a strong side we’ve put out, we’ve made 11 changes but it shows the depth of squad we have, the quality of squad we have. I’m really pleased with people like Tayo Edun and Terry Taylor, who haven’t featured, showing not only that they train at the level but they also have the quality to play in our squad. Our squad has got stronger tonight.
“The thing that gave me great pleasure is that it was a group that hasn’t played regularly and they come into a game and they [Cambridge United] have gone really strong with their team - they haven’t made many changes and we’ve been really, really strong tonight. At times we were excellent first half and if it hadn’t been for the penalty it would have been the perfect night. This is a really good trophy, I like this trophy. We’ve come away, our first game in this one, and we’ve won the game.”
Charlton return to The Valley on Saturday to face Blackpool and all U11s can attend for just £1! Click here to purchase your tickets.
