Manager's Charlton reaction

Dougie Freedman speaks after Wanderers' narrow defeat at The Valley

Dougie Freedman says a number of key refereeing decisions proved decisive, as Wanderers were edged out by the odd goal in five away at Charlton. 

Sam Ricketts’ sending off after half time for a second bookable offence proved the turned point, as the hosts rallied to score two goals in three minutes to run out 3-2 winners.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Freedman said: “I was pleased to go in with a 2-1 lead at half time. We looked a threat going forward, were compact and solid at the back and scored two good goals. I thought we thoroughly deserved the lead.

“I felt we could have gone into the break with a bigger lead as we created a number of good chances.

“Credit to Charlton, they came out and started the second half on the front-foot. We knew they would do that in the second half, but we weathered the storm pretty well and looked pretty comfortable.

“There’s no doubt the sending off hurt us. If I had an observation, it was that we put the referee in a position where he had to make some important decisions. That obviously had an effect on the game.

“We gave it a go in the last ten minutes. We were playing very open football and trying to win the game. It’s that stage of the season where you have to do that.

“We know that we are capable of a run of form and we’ve shown that in the past few months. We’ve now got back-to-back home games and have been very strong at the Reebok. 

“Overall, it was a difficult day. We’re back in training on Monday morning where we’ll analyse what we did well and look to assess where we could have done better.

“Once again, I’d like to thank the fans that made the journey this afternoon. They were fantastic throughout the game and I’m disappointed not to be able to send them back home with three points.”
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