Charlton manager Nathan Jones said that his side have shown they’re “not far off Championship level” after losing narrowly to second-tier Preston in a hastily rearranged FA Cup third round tie.
Originally set for Saturday, a frozen pitch at Deepdale meant the League One Addicks had to travel back up to Lancashire for tonight’s clash.
The South Londoners had the edge over their Championship hosts during the opening half-hour but fell behind as Alex Mitchell’s poor back-pass was picked off by Milutin Osmajic – the Montenegrin beating Will Mannion to the ball and rolling into an empty net just beyond the half-hour mark.
Jones’ side were level eight minutes later. The impressive Thierry Small advanced down Preston’s left before squaring for Luke Berry to slide home his 5th goal of the campaign.
But North End re-established their lead shortly after the restart as Osmajic shook off the attention of Small to volley home from a corner.
Freddie Woodman’s late save from a Chuks Aneke header denied the Addicks the chance to take the game to extra-time. Preston now face a fourth-round tie against Wycombe Wanderers at Deepdale.
Jones told BBC Radio London: “We gave two poor goals away, really poor goals. The first one shouldn’t have happened, it’s an under-hit back pass, that’s an error.
“It doesn’t happen to us, normally we’re very good defensively Then we didn’t start the half well, conceded from a corner, don’t deal with the first ball, don’t win the header, don’t deal with the first ball, give a corner away, and then don’t deal with that. I’m really frustrated with the goals. Performance-wise, we were excellent.
“Created better chances, created more chances, and really pleased with the performance. The keeper made some real good saves. Testing ourselves against a really good Championship side. To say we held our own would have been an understatement.
“[The opening goal] was against a run of play. We had all the chances, all the creation, we had a little bit of possession, but we pressed them high, we won the ball back, we had chances. Their keeper made two or three saves, he had to.
“We were inches away from really taking the lead. The goal came out of nowhere. It was a big error. And then we then gathered ourselves, we then came back into it, and deservedly got the goal. We were more than worthy of going in at the break level. Then second half, we wanted to kick on, but we didn’t.
“We didn’t win the first header, we didn’t deal with the long ball, and then we didn’t deal with two set plays. That’s a frustrating thing, because those are things we normally do very, very well. They showed great character, they showed quality, we created great chances.
“Their keeper’s made some wonderful saves, had to make some wonderful saves. And on another day, the result would have been different.
“With the greatest respect, I don’t think either side’s going to win the FA Cup, so it was a big test for us tonight to see where we are.
“That’s the Championship level, I know the Championship very, very well. It’s probably the league I know better than any other. And I know that we’re not far off. What we have to do now is add consistent performances in the league, because we can’t test ourselves against the Championship side if we’re not in it.
“We’re in really good form. We were six unbeaten coming in today, and it’s taken a poor switch off on two occasions for us to lose to a decent Championship side. We’ve got people coming back. We’ve got most of the full squad now. Our right side has been decimated, but they both come back on Thursday.
“We’re in a much, much better place in terms of numbers, in terms of quality, in terms of options. We’ve got a real tough 23 games left to try and achieve what we really wanted.
“We’ve got a good squad. We haven’t proved it the first half of the season. But I think we’ve got a Championship-level squad, I really do.
“You look at our midfield and you look at their midfield, there’s nothing in it. We’ve got three players in there. Connor Coventry’s a Championship player.
“Doch [Greg Docherty] has played most of his career. Luke Berry’s played in the Premier League last year. We’ve got a Championship-level squad.
“We add the youth and pace and power that we have in wide areas. We’ve got strikers. We’ve got a lot of quality in the squad. We know we can compete.
“And tonight, we didn’t come here and sit back and try to nick a point. We went after the Championship side and there was no difference.”