Charlton Athletic manager Nathan Jones, and Frank Lampard, manager of league leaders Coventry City had different views following their New Year’s Day Sky Bet Division Championship draw. 

In his press conference after the game, Jones said “First and foremost I thought that it was an excellent football game. I thought that both sides went right at the game to try and win it. To concede after two minutes and to put in the performance shows that we’ve got bags and bags of character. There were good chances for both sides. 

“I felt that in the first half, after the goal, we were brilliant. I thought that we tested them, we were athletic. When it became open in the second half they had one or two chances and we had so many situations. That was a top level Championship game. They’re top of the league. If they’re top of the league they must be the best side in the league but the level of performance we put in today, I’m proud.”

He continued “In the first half you really felt that we were going to score. Miles (Leaburn) had a great chance. To be fair to the boy, and not being disrespectful to our goalkeeper, he’s probably the best goalkeeper in the league and he makes some huge saves every week. Thomas (Kaminski) made a great save second half so we’ve seen two good goalkeepers there. To be fair they defend for their manager properly. The amount of blocks that they had, and headers and everything they did, and we kept testing them. We made positive subs to try and win the game. Overall I thought was it a fair result, I’ll have to watch it back, but I’ve a tinge of disappointment that we didn’t win it because if we just start a little better and don’t give that ball away then possibly, we could have won it.”

Due to recent results, the Addicks have dropped nearer to the relegation zone, however, Jones is confident that his team will climb up the table. “When we had a full squad we were third and fifth in the league.” he said. “We had a great start, we’ve had a poor thing, and now we have to come through that. Over the course of a year you get what you deserve then I’m sure we won’t be near that but what we can’t do is rest on our laurels and think we are anything. But performances and levels like that shows that we’re a good Championship side, and that’s what I believe that we are.”

Meanwhile Lampard felt that it was a game that his team could have won. “It was a tough match.” he said. “It always was coming here on New Year’s Day. It was a great start to the game, it really was, with a well taken goal. I’m very happy with that. They’re not easy to control, these games, as they can become a bit messy, a bit direct, second balls, and that’s not a criticism. I think they’re a team very much in the image of their manager. 

“That’s positive of being passionate and effective in what they do and they had periods of the game when they were effective and then we probably had the cleaner chances in the game and we didn’t take them so. We’re disappointed because when you’re ahead and you draw then you’re more than disappointed.”

Any suggestion that there was a foul in the build up was refuted by Lampard. “I didn’t think that it was a foul.” he admitted. “I thought that we were defending pretty resiliently in the game because they give you problems which is crosses and second balls and set pieces that it’s hard to be clean with those things. I didn’t feel that they had massive chances against us but you could feel some waves of pressure coming into the game and I thought that the lads were dealing with it well, which makes the goal more disappointing.”

Like Jones, Lampard had a tinge of disappointment with coming away with a draw, but not to the extent of being downbeat. “I’ve got a lot of respect for this Charlton team. Teams will come here and find it tough. This is a hard league. I’m a bit disappointed with a point because we set our expectations on the first half of the season when we went win, win, win, win, and expectations for everybody go up but there’s always reality of coming to a tough place. 

“I was disappointed because I thought we had some big chances in the second half where we probably could have made it two-nil and then we probably go on to win the game but I’ve got enough respect for Charlton not to say that I’m disappointed with this. It’s really tough to come here.”