Charlton manager Dean Holden was delighted with the reaction his players showed from their drubbing against Ipswich as they bounced back with a 1-0 victory at MK Dons.
The Addicks were left to lick their wounds following a 6-0 loss at Portman Road last Saturday, and a poor showing at Stadium MK would have led to accusations of their players’ minds already being on the end-of-season break.
However, despite having little substantial to play for, they responded with a disciplined performance that was rewarded by Jack Payne striking the winner against their relegation-battling hosts.
Holden said: “I think it was the perfect response. I think our supporters were turning up here – probably after travelling up most of the afternoon – thinking about what they were going to see.
“I think it’s vindication of the way we’ve handled that 6-0 defeat at the weekend.
“There are different ways you can go after that, there was a lot of emotion, obviously, around the result.
“We addressed it as we always do with the players, but we did it in a calm manner once we got through Saturday evening and I think you saw the confidence had not dropped in the players, as I think that first-half performance showed.
“I thought we started a bit sloppy second half – for 12, 13 minutes I thought we were a bit sluggish – but then got hold of the game and scored an excellent goal, fantastic finish.”
MK Dons forward Jonathan Leko came closest in a poor first half when his shot was turned onto the post by Ashley Maynard-Brewer, who also denied Mo Eisa early in the second half.
Steven Sessegnon stinging the palms of Jamie Cumming kick-started Charlton’s best spell, which was rewarded by Payne whipping in a superb finish to break the deadlock with an hour played.
MK Dons boss Mark Jackson, whose side remained three points clear of the relegation zone, said: “I didn’t think we capitalised on those moments where we were on top in the first half.
“We had a fair few opportunities to get shots away and I don’t think we worked their goalkeeper enough.
“In the second half, I thought we started brightly and had some pressure, but again I don’t think they worked the goalkeeper enough, and then Charlton got back into the game and controlled the game.
“They had sustained pressure against us and unfortunately we conceded the goal in that period. I think that’s been the story all season; that we’ve not scored enough goals.
“I think we’ve got the players and we’ve got the capabilities to that, and we had little periods where we had the territory to do that, but there’s a reluctance to get our shots off.”
