Nigel Adkins heaped praise on his players after an impressive 2-1 away win at The Stadium of Light.
Sunderland had 62% of possession but it was the Addicks who created the better chances and took home three points thanks to a Josh Scowen own goal and Alex Gilbey’s first goal for the club.
Speaking to Charlton TV’s Valley Pass Live after the game, Adkins said: “A win is a win – it’s a big win. I would have loved us to have been far better in possession of the football, that is something we’ve got to really work hard on.
“Great credit to the players, they’ve shown a great deal of resilience, desire to get a result.
“At 2-0 we’re doing ok, we gift them a goal really from my point of view, which makes it a little bit more interesting towards the end. Great credit to the players for seeing the game through.”
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The win and results elsewhere leave Charlton just one point off a play-off spot and two points off fourth place.
Adkins added: “We could have actually scored more goals when you break it down. We could have had a penalty, Jayden [Stockley] hit the post, we hit the post in the first half and then just taking a bit more care when situations break for us we might have been able to get a few more goals. However, it is a great win, it keeps us in the race. Sunderland are expected to be in the top two and we’ve come away from home again. I’m looking forward to being at The Valley, I know there has been a lot of Charlton supporters watching the game today – hopefully they enjoyed it, they were probably biting their nails as the game went on, as we were in the dugout.”
Ben Amos made a string of early saves, earning the Man of the Match award on his 31st birthday and Adkins was pleased with what he saw from the defence as a whole and was also thrilled to see work on the training ground result in his players finding the net.
“Ben’s made some really good saves,” he said, “the lads have made some good blocks – they’ve had to defend because we didn’t have a lot of the ball it is fair to say.
“We scored two goals, which we talked about before the game. The first goal, a set piece, we’ve got a threat with our delivery and the size of the team – that was something that was worked on yesterday. The second goal from the throw in, I thought we could expose the left back area, they’ve conceded some goals from that area, getting a midfielder on a blindside run and Alex Gilbey has gone and done that and managed to score the goal. From my point of view it is pleasing that a couple of things we talked about, we scored on the back of.”
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