Nathan Jones proud of Charlton performance after away win at West Ham
Lloyd Jones and Tyreece Campbell were the scorers for the Addicks.
Nathan Jones piled praise on his Charlton players after they won 2-1 at West Ham to maintain their perfect start to the new season.
Charlton had been tipped to be one of the Championship’s strugglers but have taken maximum points, as well as setting up a Carabao Cup second-round tie at Tottenham.
Lloyd Jones and Tyreece Campbell, on the scoresheet in the opening league match of the season, put the Addicks into a 2-0 lead just before the hour mark.
Centre-back Jones produced an acrobatic finish from Sonny Carey’s long throw in the seventh minute while Campbell ruthlessly beat Hammers keeper Mads Hermansen after Konstantinos Mavropanos had the ball nicked off him by Miles Leaburn.
Addicks boss Jones said: “We can’t get carried away because this is the norm now. It isn’t a cup game or a one-off match – this is the league.
“We had to be very organised and good tactically. First half we were excellent, countered really well and probably could have created a little more with better decisions in the final third. But I’m so proud how they have gone about their work and defended the box.
“Do we demand from Lloyd Jones to score more goals? Yeah, because in both boxes he is one of, if not the best, for first contacts in the Championship.
“And that is exactly what we want from Tyreece and what we work on. We have been demanding those outcomes when he gets into those positions.
“Arthur Okonkwo was outstanding. It’s wonderful to work with him. He has shown real desire to join the football club.”
Joel Piroe, making his debut after joining on loan from Leeds, had cut the deficit in the 75th minute for West Ham, but Taty Castellanos struck the post with a penalty awarded in stoppage time after Conor Coventry was ruled to have blocked Lewis Orford’s shot with his arm.
West Ham have not won their last 10 derbies, losing nine of them, but Hammers head coach Nuno Espirito Santo defended the decision for Castellanos to take the spot-kick instead of Jarrod Bowen.
He said: “We trust Taty to take the penalties. I don’t know (if he will take the next one), we will have to decide.
“We started badly again. We got punished from a situation where we know Charlton create problems. It became much harder but we still created a lot of situations but were not accurate enough in the boxes. Football is this – to be accurate in the offensive box and we have to defend much better.
“We had a lot of possession and tried to break them, which is not easy. We should have finished better.
“Of course, I feel under pressure. West Ham is pressure every day – it is a big club. You see that with 62,000 fans in the stands and we let them down. This is the more disappointing feeling.
“The boys tried until the end. We are going to repeat, repeat and repeat in training, in the final third, to create situations that allow us to score. We will keep the belief and the process.”