Olly Groome reports from SportsDirect.com Park
Karl Robinson rued his side’s missed chances as Charlton fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Oldham Athletic on Tuesday evening.
The Addicks totalled 16 shots at SportsDirect.com Park, with five of those on target but, crucially, could not find the killer instinct to find the net, while Ollie Banks’ early, clinical strike was enough to earn the points for the home side.
Speaking to the assembled press he explained that a lack of ruthlessness has come at a cost in recent weeks.
“We’ve spoken about this a lot recently,” he said.
“Lee Novak missed a good chance at 1-0 at Wimbledon on Saturday, Tony Watt missed that chance at home to Fleetwood and tonight, Josh Magennis has missed a good opportunity inside the first few seconds tonight.
“Every time we score two goals, we win the game, but we don’t do it enough. It’s not like tonight we haven’t had chances. We’ve dominated territorially and we’ve created a number of opportunities, but we didn’t hit the target. We didn’t make the keeper make enough saves.”
“We just don’t look ruthless,” continued Robinson.
“I always remember playing Charlton Athletic, you knew you couldn’t miss a chance because if we got one, you knew they would get another.
“That has got to be improved. They have to ask themselves what it takes to be here.
Charlton were denied, what looked like, a stonewall penalty in the second half when Chris Solly received a firm push in the back in the penalty area.
But when asked, Robinson was keen not to dwell on the decision and insisted that there were wider issues as to why his side left Boundary Park empty handed.
“I seem to be like a broken record every week, but it is a blatant penalty. There’s a push in Solly’s back and it’s as blatant as it gets,” he explained.
“But I thought, overall, the referee did well tonight. He was straight and honest, and he let the odd tackle go, but that was the only one he missed and it was a crucial one.
“I can’t start pointing fingers about one aspect of the game. There’s bigger issues than that and they need to be fixed.
“We’re playing better, but not getting enough goals. So we have to take those opportunities, like their kid did with their goal tonight.”
Meanwhile, with the Addicks now nine points off the play-off places with 16 games to go, Robinson maintained that the top six remained the target and that it is still within his reach.
He said: “It is 100 per cent our target. I know what I need to do and I’ve got to make sure that we do it in the right way. Players have to show that they are going to dedicate their lives to the club for the remainder of the season.
“We have a really good group of players. They are honest and work hard every day, but they just need that bit of nous in certain areas.
“They are hurting in there. We talked for a long time after the game and it wasn’t about shouting and ranting and raving. I’ve already done that, but tonight was about deeper and rawer questions and I hope that will have a bigger effect.”