Nathan Jones bemoans ‘brutal’ conditions as Charlton held by Fleetwood

Charlton boss Nathan Jones was left less than impressed with the state of the Fleetwood pitch after their 1-1 draw.

Blustery conditions made it difficult for both sides but Ryan Graydon came off the bench to salvage a point for battling Fleetwood as his 84th-minute strike cancelled out Alfie May’s opener at Highbury.

“It was just brutal really, a brutal game,” reflected Jones.

“The conditions and the pitch made a spectacle very hard out there.

“There was a lot of honesty out there, but very little quality so a point was a fair result.

“I don’t think a Football League pitch should be like this. For whatever reason it is, I don’t want to comment too much on it. But it made any kind of footballing game very difficult. The wind took away any chance of a spectacle.

“It’s one of those things, it’s EFL football. It was a brutal game today.

On the goal the Addicks conceded late on, he added: “We lost a runner, lose a challenge then another challenge and they tap it in off the post. I’m really disappointed because there were four things we could have done better.

“The manner of the goal was very disappointing. It was probably an even result, but when you lead going into whatever minute it was you expect to see it out and we didn’t.”

It was a goal which denied the London club all three points, though they stretched their unbeaten run to eight games.

But for the Cod Army it could be a precious point in their survival bid.

They are five points off safety and boss Charlie Adam was left wanting more.

He said: “If you look at what we did again, we created three or four big chances.

“The impact of the subs did a good job again. I’m really pleased for Ryan to get the goal, it was the least that we deserved from that game.

“We will go away, dust ourselves down and look back on it with real frustration in terms of not winning the football match.

“I believe we had the best chances in the game so it’s frustrating. But I’ll say it again, we’ve closed the gap and that’s all you can do.

“It’s disappointing but all we can do is look forward to the games that we have left.”