Play-off hopefuls Charlton Athletic secured their sixth consecutive home win against fellow challengers Barnsley in their Sky Bet Division One match leaving manager Nathan Jones delighted.

In those six games at the Valley, they have conceded just once and their defence again played superbly meaning that goalkeeper Will Mannion was rarely tested. They are now in fifth place in the league and on top of the current form guide having won eight of their last ten matches, with just one defeat.

After the game, Charlton manager Nathan Jones said “That was a brilliant win against a very difficult side to play against. We scored the goal at a good time which kind of settled things a little bit and made a few little tweaks second half and I thought we were comfortable second half.”

“Their front players were excellent. They’re good footballers who cause problems. They’d won their last three and scored four at the weekend and they’re a free scoring side so to keep a clean sheet against them was very good.” 

Although Barnsley had plenty of possession, they were kept at bay and goalkeeper Will Mannion had a reasonably straight-forward evening compared to his opposite number, Jackson Smith.

“If we take our chances, we win it comfortably, and we had some good chances without playing at our fluent best but you’ve got to understand that this is a tough week.” said Jones.

“You don’t get many tougher weeks than this in league one. We had Leyton Orient away who have been in excellent form, Barnsley at home who are in excellent form, then we travel to Stockport, so we had to forgive ourselves for a little lack of form but we found a way to win the game.”

“We controlled more of the game in terms that Will didn’t have any big saves to make, their keeper did. I was pleased with the win, pleased with the overall performance, and pleased with the clean sheet which came from that defensive solidity and base.”

Throughout the game, the Charlton supporters were noisy. Jones said. “When we came in we said that we wanted to build a football club, not just get results, we want to build a football club. At times, the supporters have had to be patient, but what we want is everyone buying into the club with everything that we do, and uniting it.”

“You see now, the noise that they’re generating and they’re seeing a football team that, at the minute, they can be very, very proud of and that’s all we can do.”

“It’s magnificent to have that. We want to fill this place. We want it to be noisy. We want them to get behind the team, of course it helps. When everything is united, this is a wonderful football club. The fans are the lifeblood of the football club.” 

Picture supplied by Dave Budden.