Charlton boss Nigel Adkins praises players’ great spirit’ after win at Fleetwood

Posted Sunday, October 03, 2021 by PA

Charlton manager Nigel Adkins put his side’s 2-1 success at Fleetwood down to a fantastic team spirit, despite their recent struggles.

The Addicks ended a five-game winless run, Jayden Stockley scoring the winner 20 minutes from time after Danny Andrew’s free kick had cancelled out Jonathan Leko’s opener for Charlton late in the first half.

And, after surviving a Fleetwood siege on their goal right at the death, Adkins was full of praise for his players’ resilience.

“You can see we’ve got a great spirit among the players, that was required right at the very end,” he said.

“We played some good football at times and could have scored more goals. It was a good goal from Jonathan Leko, and Charlie Kirk should have scored one as well, so we’ve created good opportunities to score.

“Jayden Stockley scored the winner for us which is great, players having an impact from the bench.

“But the spirit of the whole group was demonstrated at the end when balls were getting pumped into the box and it’s ricocheting about and you’ve got to defend it.

“The players have shown great resilience again and this time it means we’re coming away with a victory, which is very pleasing.”

Stockley’s goal came with 20 minutes remaining and prompted the Fleetwood to throw the kitchen sink at their visitors, but to no avail.

And having ended their hosts’ seven-game unbeaten run, Adkins – who had been under pressure after recent results saw them start the day second-bottom – admitted he was delighted for his group.

“I see what it’s like on the training ground every day,” he added. “We’ve got good, honest, hard-working players and they want to improve.

“We want that competition for places, we need to be able to impact games as we go and everyone has the bit between their teeth. We’re in a challenging period but we create opportunities to score and everyone is working so hard for each other.”

Fleetwood boss Simon Grayson felt it was a game too far for his injury-hit squad, who he felt ran out of steam after trips to Cambridge and MK Dons in the previous eight days.

“It was one of those days, we threw everything we could at it in the last 15 minutes but they defended their box really well,” he said.

“They put their bodies on the line and then that scramble right at the end sums it up for us, it just wasn’t meant to be our day today, unfortunately.

“In the first half we were too slow with the ball, we didn’t close them down quickly enough, so I think the last two games and the travelling involved has caught up with us a bit.

“The urgency that we had recently wasn’t there and we can put that down to the games we’ve had and us being down to the bare bones. It’s no excuse for losing the game but I think that played a part, certainly in the first half.

“We had some players out there who hadn’t trained since Tuesday, we had six players out so we’re down to the bare bones, but we kept going to the end.

“We showed our never-say-die attitude without getting the outcome of a late equaliser that would have given us a point.”