McSHEFFREY’S KEEPING FAITH
GARY McSheffrey is convinced his Doncaster side still have hope in their bid to secure League One survival after this latest setback.
Charlton missed a string of chances, with Conor Washington seeing a penalty saved, before Jayden Stockley netted the only goal of the game midway through the second half.
Rovers now sit four points from safety with just six games remaining, but have played at least one game more than their relegation rivals.
McSheffrey said: “Gillingham getting a win put a gap to them and other teams haven’t played so we’ll have to see what they do.
“But it’s not mathematically done, so we have to keep being positive and try to believe we can win the next game.
“I can’t sit and be negative. We won’t accept it until the proof is in the pudding.
“If it happens, it happens but we keep trying to fight until the end.
“We didn’t look like winning the game today and we were lucky to still be in it at half time.We made more of a game of it in the second half, created a couple of chances and a bit of momentum but, ultimately, we gave a cheap goal away.”
Charlton dominated in attacking terms and were gifted an opportunity to go ahead after 14 minutes when Kyle Knoyle mistimed a challenge on Corey Blackett-Taylor, only for by Rovers keeper Jonathan Mitchell to keep out Washington’s penalty.
Chances kept coming for the visitors with Mitchell denying Washington and Stockley in quick succession.
Charlton took the lead after 67 minutes when Blackett-Taylor cut the ball back from the byline and Stockley found the far bottom corner.
Washington saw a one-onone effort saved by Mitchell while Stockley rattled the crossbar with his follow-up.
The victory was a third consecutive one for Charlton and while delighted with the about-turn in form his side have produced, Addicks boss Johnny Jackson was disappointed with the lack of ruthlessness in front of goal.
He said: “From box-to-box, it was a good performance and there were some outstanding individual performances, but we should have been out of sight.
“We missed a lot of chances and, at 1-0, it only takes one ball in the box to drop to somebody and it nearly did right at the death, which would have been cruel.
“But you need your keeper in those moments and he did the business by keeping out the shot and that’s as important as scoring goals. You’ve got to put away the kind of chances we had and, on another day, the two strikers would have done.
“The penalty can happen but, in the other situations, you have to score.”