Nathan Jones: Charlton’s win at Middlesbrough gives confidence for season run-in

Nathan Jones believes Charlton’s 1-0 Sky Bet Championship triumph over Middlesbrough will give his side confidence going forward for the remainder of the campaign.

The Addicks moved nine points clear of the relegation zone after Conor Coady stabbed home from Harry Clarke’s long throw-in, 59 minutes in at the Riverside.

Although Boro had dominated the game – having 34 shots compared to the visitors’ five – a solid defensive effort saw Charlton hold on to claim three points and Jones believes his side are beginning to “move forward”.

“It will give them confidence, but they trust the structure,” he said.

“We’ve had a bit of a chequered season because for the first 15 games we were top six, but then we had really bad injuries, key injuries and that coincided with a group of fixtures of Boro at home, Southampton at home, Stoke away, Ipswich and all the top teams in form.

“And we got hurt, we really did. We’re getting people back now, we’ve strengthened in the window. We’ve regrouped a little bit and started to move forward.

“It could’ve been so different if we hadn’t had those injuries but we trust our structure, trust what we do and nights like tonight reiterate what we’re built on.

“Can we get better? Absolutely. Will we get better? Definitely. But we have to enjoy the wins when you can because a Championship win for a newly-promoted side, any one is vital.”

Jones also praised the pedigree of Coady’s experience in their bid for survival after joining on loan from Wrexham in January.

Speaking about the defender, Jones added: “His leadership is outstanding, I knew that anyway.

“I’ve known Conor Coady for a long time, ex-England international, Premier League most of his career, been promoted with Wolves and Leicester, he’s wonderful pedigree in terms of that.

“We’ve got a lot of young athleticism, bit naive, need to know the game and know what it’s like to play Championship football because we’re novices like that and that’s what people forget.”

Boro boss Kim Hellberg admitted he did not know where to place his frustrations as their push for automatic promotion took a blow.

The hosts controlled the game but struggled to convert their chances and now slip eight points behind leaders Coventry following their win over Preston.

Hellberg said: “It’s been two points from three games at home, which is of course not the standard we want to have.

“It’s been games we are creating a lot of opportunities, we don’t let the opposition create many things.

“There was a free-kick against Leicester and a throw-in today. We conceded little in open play and now it’s been two set-play goals and we haven’t converted all the opportunities we had to score.

“That is frustrating. We scored seven in two games against tough opponents away and we don’t today.

“It’s difficult to know where you should put your frustrations because we’re doing everything we can, creating a lot of opportunities, just for the moment, we have problems scoring at home.”