Dean Holden pleased to see Charlton secure back to back away wins

Posted Sunday, March 19, 2023 by PA

Dean Holden was pleased to see his Charlton side secure successive wins as they recorded a 2-1 victory over Cambridge at the Abbey Stadium.

Both of the Addicks’ goals came inside the first 28 minutes, before they saw off late pressure after Lloyd Jones had halved their lead.

Cambridge are six points off safety in League One, with a worse goal difference than any of the teams above them.

Since beating Oxford exactly a month ago, after which they were only inside the relegation zone by a point, Cambridge have picked up just one point in six fixtures.

“Six points from two away games inside four days is really excellent, backing up the point that we got at home to Accrington last week,” said Holden.

“The run we’ve been on coming into this, that mini-run, we’d struggled for points, so it’s really pleasing for that reason.

“The first goal was really pleasing in that first half. We knew where the key spaces were, in terms of getting down the side of their outside centre backs.

“Then we get the second. We had total dominance at that point and we could have gone on and got a third and maybe even a fourth.

“We lost a bit of control after about 60 minutes. We stopped passing the ball as well as we’d done. Having said that, I don’t think Ash (Maynard-Brewer) has had a lot to do. Overall it’s a really pleasing three points.”

Mark Bonner regretted Cambridge’s poor first half, which gave them too much to do despite improvement after the break.

“We had more moments that we should have done better with, moments where we should have taken a shot on, put a cross in the box when it was there to do so, or find the quality to create a moment.

“Teams would have scored some of those moments against us, no question about it. We moved the ball brilliantly a few times, flash it across the goal, we’re not there to finish it. That’s our downfall.

“I thought we were very good second half, had a real thrust at the game, and looked like we might be able to earn something but couldn’t find the quality, and in the first half they were too good for us, too athletic for us and moved the ball too well. We couldn’t quite get our shape right to contain them.

“We’re pleased with the second half but we’re not that happy that we’ve lost and we’re not that happy that we’ve just been competitive and we’ve tried. That’s not enough.

“Obviously the first half is where they’ve got themselves in front and we weren’t able to catch them.”