Lee Bowyer was left frustrated following Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Blackpool and insisted that his side ‘didn’t deserve to lose’ following a good second-half showing at Bloomfield Road.
A difficult first-half saw Armand Gnanduillet open the scoring for the Seasiders, who went into the break ahead, but could count themselves very lucky to still have 10 men on the pitch after captain Curtis Tilt escaped a second booking after a cynical ‘rugby tackle’ on Lyle Taylor on the touchline.
But the Addicks came out fighting after the restart and grabbed a deserved equaliser through Joe Aribo, only to concede late on to Nathan Delfouneso’s 87th-minute goal, leaving Charlton heading home empty handed.
Speaking following the loss, Bowyer said: “I don’t think we deserved that. The lads gave it everything and we didn’t deserve to lose.
“We started off well in the first half. We moved the ball and I thought if we carry on doing this then we’ll win the game comfortably. But then after 10 minutes, we started doing what they do, going long, and it became like a dogfight. They were winning more second balls and it was just scrappy. Obviously, we gave them a goal head start and the first half wasn’t good enough.”
The Addicks boss continued: “Second half, I thought we controlled the game very well and created so many chances. We just weren’t ruthless enough and they nicked it at the end. For me, when we equalised, it felt like only one team were going to win this game. It was just a matter of time, but then to concede a goal like that was just frustrating.
“We’ll learn from it and pick them back up. I‘ve just said to them ‘you gave me everything there.’ In the first 45 minutes, you can’t give a team a one-goal lead, but that’s what’s cost us. That and a referee’s decision in the first half.”
The decision by referee Tony Harrington not to give Tilt his marching orders was one that Bowyer, quite rightly, bemoaned. Indeed, he felt that the end result would have been very different.
“Tilt should have been sent off,” he explained.
“He’s already been booked and then he rugby tackles Lyle once he’s gone past him. It’s the most blatant yellow card I’ve ever seen in my life and he should have been sent off. I don’t want to see someone get sent off, but let’s stick to the rules. You can’t just make them up – it’s wrong and it’s cost us.
“If they go down to 10 men, that’s it. We dominated the second half when they had 11, so it would’ve been a different result if they were down to 10 men.
“Even their manager said it should have been a yellow card. The fourth official said ‘if he hadn’t already been booked, then he might’ve been.’ But come on, it’s just wrong.”
“These things cost you,” he added.
“Instead of getting three points, we’ve got no points, so it’s been a frustrating day.
“It’s going to be tough [at Porstmouth]. They won again today and they don’t concede many goals. So it’s going to be tough and I’m sure it will be packed out there, so we’ll need to dust ourselves down and get ready for Portsmouth.”