“An awful game” – Charlton boss Nigel Adkins gives his verdict on 1-1 draw at Accrington

Nigel Adkins admitted that his Charlton side struggled to settle in today’s 1-1 draw at Accrington Stanley – labelling the League One clash as “awful”.

Chuks Aneke scored a last-gasp equaliser for the Addicks at the Wham Stadium.

But the result extends Charlton’s winless run to three matches and Portsmouth are now in pole position to claim the final play-off spot after a 3-1 success at AFC Wimbledon today.

Adkins told Charlton TV: “It was an awful game of football. It was a battle, we thought it would be, we adapted our shape. You can see how direct they are and the pitch wasn’t conducive to passing it about. The opposition do it very well and you’ve got to negate that [direct approach] – you’ve got to do all the horrible things.

“We’ve tried to adapt and do that, but we’ve not been very good at it. Then when you do get the opportunity to pass it you have to be smart with your passing and we didn’t do that all game.

“Yes, we got an equaliser in the end, but that wasn’t a pretty game to watch or to be involved in. We conceded a very poor goal. We changed shape. Should it have been a foul on Prats [Darren Pratley, for the goal]? It was a poor goal from our point of view and a poor game, I want my team to pass the ball.

“We knew we’d have to roll our sleeves up. We nullified a lot of things they do well. We wanted them to play out from the back because the pitch is very bobbly. We didn’t get the ball in their half of the pitch enough or get the quality right when we did get it up there.

“It was a very disappointing outcome. Even though we got the point it feels like a defeat.”

PICTURE: KYLE ANDREWS