Nigel Adkins is relishing the challenge facing his side this weekend with a trip to Accrington Stanley in what is Charlton’s final away game of the regular League One campaign.
The Addicks were condemned to a stoppage-time equaliser in midweek against Crewe Alexandra, but Adkins revealed he and his squad have taken the positives, with their full focus now on Saturday.
“We learn the lessons from that game," he explained.
"There’s some really good stuff and I’ve highlighted that the first goal that we’ve scored is all about the key performance indicators that we’re talking about - out of position, transition, what we do when we win the ball back, how we can keep possession of the ball, how we can have a purpose to put the ball in certain areas and how can we go and score. It’s a fantastic goal. All the things that we want to go and do were encapsulated in that one goal when we got the ball back, starting on the edge of our own box so that was really, really good.
“As long as you learn the lessons from it, that’s the big thing. You don’t just brush it under the carpet. What issues did Crewe give us? What did we learn from that? So maybe when we’re placed in that situation again we might be able to deal with it in a better way but likewise what are the many good things that we’ve gone and done?
“That’s why we always do a debrief - I think that’s massively important. It’s plan, do and then review. That was a real good productive meeting that we’ve had. Anything else about Crewe Alexandra we draw a blue line underneath, turn the page and then it’s the game preparation into the next one. That way we keep ourselves fresh in our minds in what we’re doing in preparing for the game.”
The Charlton manager is expecting a tough encounter in Lancashire against John Coleman’s side and is well aware of the threats presented by Stanley.
“I think at any time of the year since John Coleman has been in charge of Accrington Stanley, it’s never an easy game going there. Mentally, we’ve got to be bang on for it and we’ll be prepared. We’ve got to make sure we’re ready to go and compete because we’re going to have to.
“They get the ball forward more than anybody else in the league, they get more shots at goal than anybody else in the league so let’s not be under any illusions. This is going to be a tough, tough game but one we should be embracing and really looking forward to. We’ve got to go and win it. We’ve got to win the next three games to put ourselves in the play-off position and that’s when it all matters. We’ve got to go there with a positive mindset to keep improving on what we’re doing.”
Adkins also provided an injury update on Diallang Jaiyesimi, who missed out on Tuesday evening with a hamstring problem, and spoke of the importance of having a fully fit squad ahead of the Addicks’ season-defining final three games.
“No new injury concerns. The only one who won’t make the game is DJ [Diallang Jaiyesimi] but it’s nice to see him out running this morning. We’ve got a good medical and sports science team here and, again, we’ve got the data that we use. Ultimately, we don’t want to lose anybody through injury but we need to have a lot of energy, especially going into the next game.
“We’ve got three games coming up in this week - they’re all just as important as each other. The next game is the most important one now with trying to get ourselves in a position to go to Accrington Stanley and get the victory that we need.”
