'Sick to my stomach' - Charlton boss's honest reaction after witnessing dramatic, last-gasp Portsmouth win at Fratton Park
Pompey’s dramatuic 2-1 win over Charlton lifted them out of the Championship relegation zone and brought the Addicks into the relegation dog fight.
Nathan Jones admitted Pompey’s dramatic, last-gasp win over his Charlton side at Fratton Park left him felling ‘sick to my stomach’.
The Addicks boss said he was ‘gutted’ by Minyeok Yang’s 90+8 minute winner - less than two minutes after Harvey Knibbs looked to have snatched a late point for the visitors following Conor Shaughnessy’s 69th-munute opener.
He also claimed leaving PO4 with anything less than a win was a ‘travesty’, with the former Southampton boss of the opinion that his side were the better of the two on the night.
Jones might be right with his latter point. Indeed, Charlton registered more shots (16 v 15), touches in the oppositions box (39 v 12) and had a higher XG than the Blues (0.99 v 0.83), despite their hosts enjoying more possession (54.6% v 45.4%).
But at the end of the day, what really counts is the number of times the ball finds the back of the net, and for the first time since April 2005 Pompey outscored the Addicks when Fratton Park has been the venue.
That and the way in which Pompey claimed a victory that takes them out of the Championship relegation zone sparked wild scenes in the home end at PO4.
But while the Blues’ players, fans and management enjoyed a rare moment of genuine joy this season, the same cannot be said of Jones & Co. He was understandably distraught with how events unfolded deep into injury-time.
What Nathan Jones said after Portsmouth 2-1 Charlton Athletic
When asked for his thoughts by Charlton’s media team at the final whistle, the Welshman said: ‘Look, first of all, I’ve got a sick feeling in my stomach because, you know, I think it would have been a bit of a travesty if we'd drawn that. But to lose it, and in the manner that we did, I feel sick to my stomach, I really do.
‘I thought for large spells in the game we were excellent, we caused real problems. First half, we caused problems and silenced the crowd and looked a real threat.
‘And then a little bit of quality, a little bit of a final third quality, you know, we would have gone in (at half-time) ahead. Then, second off, we've come out and we've had some wonderful opportunities, really.
‘Their keeper's pulled off two fantastic saves, then we’ve flashed one just passed the post, we've had opportunities. Lloydy (Lloyd Jones) has had a chance that he's missed, but you know, we've had enough to have taken the lead and to go on.
‘Then we concede from a really, really poor goal from a corner, which we never do. We very rarely concede from that, but we have.
‘And then we push, we keep on, TC (Tyreece Campbell) flashes one past the post, we’re pushing, we’re penning them in, then we finally get something that we feel is the minimum we deserve.
‘And then to switch off like we did late on is crazy, is absolutely crazy and I'm gutted because, one, they should never score from there, and two, we have to defend that better, get on second balls and it's just a sickening defeat. ‘