Stalemate at the Valley between Charlton Athletic and Queen Park Rangers brought very different views from the two managers. 

In truth, Charlton could have been home and hosed by half time. However, the visitors finished strongly and might have left with all three points.

After the match, Charlton manager Nathan Jones said “For ninety minutes I was really pleased with our level of performance. For the last eight minutes we caused ourselves problems by turning the ball over and giving them opportunities to counter on us, which is their strength. The majority of their goals come from counter attacks when teams have given it away or risked. They scored two against us when we gave it away earlier in the season.”

He continued “I thought, first half, we were outstanding, we really were. Second half, we started well, we had three chances, their keeper made three saves, great save from Dykesy (Lyndon Dykes), save from Luke (Chambers), and another one from Charlie (Kelman). We’ve had some really good chances and it’s just a shame that we didn’t have that bit of composure, bit of quality to have won the game.

“Their keeper’s (Joe Walsh) had man of the match tonight so it shows that we did something right. It’s just a tad disappointing that we’ve kept a clean sheet but we couldn’t quite take one of the chances that we’ve created.”

Although it wasn’t a win, there were plenty of causes for optimism. Jones said “Another clean sheet, another point. On the back of the catastrophic result and performance against Millwall, it’s been four points in two games so it’s a good reaction.”

A shoulder injury kept Miles Leaburn out, and Jones felt that he might have made the difference, saying “It’s a shame Miles missed out tonight. He’s looking a proper number nine now. I thought he (Dykes) was a real catalyst for us. He was a focal point for us to hit. We got around him. We put balls in the box and on balance, I thought we should have had enough quality to just create the one opportunity which would, ultimately, have won us the game.” 

However, the Rangers’ Head Coach, Julien Stéphan, saw the match differently. “We were under pressure first half, yes, but not the second half.” He said. “We were brilliant. We finished the second half strong, physically, and we had the best opportunities in the second half, especially in the last fifteen minutes. In the first half we were too much in between, between the first line of pressure and they used a lot of the long ball. They found the striker second ball and we lost the battle of the second ball in the first half but I think that we have had a strong reaction in the second half. 

“We took corrective action because we fixed a couple of problems between the last line and the first line, the pressure was better and so on. The keeper made a great save. We had a very good second half and probably, at the end, we deserved more than the opponent.”

Stéphan agreed that Walsh had an excellent game adding “He is a young keeper. This is the first season for him in the championship. You need to accept this is a process. He was not top top dog at the beginning. Then he had four months out with an injury and this is a second season for him in a season, if you like. Since he came back he’s had very good performances so it’s very good for his confidence.”

Despite not winning, Stéphan was not too downbeat. “It’s a point away, it’s a good point for us.” he confirmed. “We had a very good win against Coventry last week and we will have another home game against Blackburn so if we want to validate the point, we need to win the next one.”