Nathan Jones was understandably a happy man after seeing his Charlton side kick-off their League One campaign with three points at Wigan.
The Addicks soaked up all the pressure thrown at them from the home side, and defender Lloyd Jones fired home the only goal with nine minutes remaining after Wigan failed to clear a free-kick.
“It was a very hard-fought victory,” said the Charlton manager.
“They are a very difficult side to play against, they’ve got a really good structure, they’re very well coached, and they can cause you problems in their own half.
“We want to be aggressive, we want to press, but they are good enough to get out of your press if you’re not at it.
“I thought the game was won in both boxes – we were outstanding in our own box, and then we got the goal in theirs.
“We could have been a little bit more fluent in possession, but it’s the first game of the season, it’s a 5.30pm kick-off, it’s a massive journey up, so let’s take all that into consideration.
“A clean sheet on the road first up, you can’t ask for more than that. We know we’re not going to dominate every game away from home, but we need to make sure we’re still picking up points and picking up wins.
“Structurally we were very good, we went after them, we were brave, and the only disappointment was we didn’t cause them more problems.
“We’ll take any wins we can, and this is a very tough place to come.
“They will outpass, outplay, outscore a lot of teams here.
“For us to come here and keep a clean sheet and score a goal, it’s a big thing for us…we’d have taken this before we even left home.”
For Wigan manager Shaun Maloney – whose star man Thelo Aasgaard failed to take a gilt-edged opportunity at the beginning of the second period – it was a bitter pill to swallow.
“I was really proud of the players,” he said. “It’s one of those tough moments in football, as a manager, where you’re really pleased with the way the team’s played, even though we’ve lost.
“I couldn’t have asked for any more in terms of the performance, and we lose a goal from a long ball, we make a mistake, and we lose a goal.
“The rest, I’m really happy with. The way Charlton defend, it’s really difficult to play through them in that final third.
“Today was always going to be how we could create crosses, cut-backs, and probably the most dangerous we were was when we had two wingers on the pitch.
“It was very difficult to take losing the game, but there were many positives we can take from that.”
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