Nathan Jones, Charlton Athletic manager, stated that the quality of Fleetwood Town’s pitch, combined with the weather, made their 1-1 draw almost impossible to call anything other than a fight.
Alfie May’s 25th goal of the season, and 21st in League One, gave the Addicks the lead in the first half after winning and converting a penalty.
But Ryan Graydon equalized in the 84th minute. Charlton is unbeaten in eight league games and sits 10 points above the relegation zone.
“It was a brutal game,” Jones told Charlton Television. “The conditions and pitch made for a challenging spectacle.
“There was a lot of honesty out there, but very little quality. A point was probably a reasonable result.
“I don’t think a Football League pitch should look like this, for whatever reason – I don’t want to say too much about it.
“It made any kind of football game extremely impossible. Then the wind blew away any hope of a decent spectacle. It’s one of those things; it’s league football, the English Football League.”
Charlton has preserved one clean sheet in 27 outings.
“I’m really disappointed (with the nature of the Fleetwood goal),” Jones remarked. “Because we lost a header, we didn’t go with a runner, so we lost another challenge, then another, and they tapped it in off the post. There were four things that could’ve gone better. It came from a throw-in, so the manner of the goal was really disappointing.
“It’s probably an even result, but when you take the lead in whatever it is, you expect to see it through. But we didn’t, and we’ll check into that.
“It’s another game unbeaten, which is a good thing. It keeps others away from us. It is about maintaining our momentum; we cannot win everything. We have won a few consecutive games. We hoped to go three today, but the conditions definitely favored them a little more because they are a large, strong, and muscular team.
“We weren’t particularly into it, but the weather eliminated any hope of a good show. We’ll get back on the bus; a point is a point, and another unblemished game awaits.”
