Nathan Jones was impressed with his team’s all-round performance as the Addicks claimed a victory over Portsmouth in their final game of pre-season.
“I’m pleased,” he said. “Last week we weren’t really at it but we’re a lot further along now. One week to go, I think we’re in a decent enough place. You saw what we had and how we played.
“We’ve still got Miles [Leaburn] and [Matty] Godden to come in, so yeah I think we’re in a good place and you’ve got to be pleased. It was a good test, it’s how we wanted it. Portsmouth were in our league last year and now they’re a Championship side, so we would like to emulate them in terms of results and where they finished. I’m very pleased with that overall performance. Plus no injuries so that’s a good thing.”
In particular, Jones appreciated his side’s ability to go toe-to-toe with last year’s Sky Bet League One champions.
“We just have to be consistent,” the boss added. “We want to do the basics right, we want to make sure that we are a certain team, we play aggressive. It was a different type of game today in terms of it was a high-quality game. Wimbledon was a bit more of a scrap. We’ve got to learn to be able to do both.
“Today, they probably had half a chance late on, and that was it really. We restricted them to shots from range. We had some real, real good opportunities. It could have been more, and that’s the only thing. But I’m pleased with the clean sheet.”
The gaffer provided an update on the fitness of Matty Godden, who missed the game today following a head injury he sustained against AFC Wimbledon.
“It’s just protocols and everything that we have to do,” he explained. “But look, we’ve got good competition and a level here that we want to make sure we can continue to do.
“Matty will be back with us on Monday, and Miles is not far off, which is another wonderful thing.
“Sometimes you can be a bit disrupted [in pre-season]. But today it was a little bit more like a real game. We made probably more changes than we wanted to but I felt that the level they were at, it was good. We had an opportunity to get everyone up to speed.
“By the coming Thursday when we do our game prep and everything, I think we’ll be ready for the challenge ahead.”
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