Graeme Jones hailed ‘ice cool’ James Collins for rescuing a point from with a last-gasp penalty against Stoke, though admitted his side had been ‘treading in quicksand’ as they laboured in the relegation six-pointer.
The striker and stand-in captain, had missed a first minute spot-kick against Sheffield Wednesday earlier in the month, but he sent Jack Butland the wrong way in the 91st minute to steal a point from the jaws of defeat.
It kept bottom-of-the-Championship Town within five points of Stoke, who are the team to catch, just one place above the drop zone.
“You’ve got to be experienced. You’ve got to have experienced big moments in order to keep your cool in those situations. The courage of the lad, I don’t think anybody at this football club doubts it. He was ice cool,” said boss Jones.
Until Callum McManaman was tripped by James Chester, it looked like his side, who had struggled to break down Stoke after Sam Vokes’ ninth minute opener, were heading for a damaging defeat in their bid to beat the drop, in a performance that lacked any spark from the start.
“I never give in, ever. Not with these lads,” Jones said, adding: “We were treading in quicksand for large parts of the game. Tuesday night (against Brentford) really took its toll on us, physically. I didn’t see the spark we had then.
“In them situations, the key for us is to get something out of it. I’ve been speaking to the boys since before Christmas about needing to accumulate points and that’s what we’ve done today.
“We’ve managed to nick a point that might be enough at the end of the season.”
Jones has talked a lot about the final match of a three-game week, which this Stoke test was, but injuries to Luke Berry, Sonny Bradley and Kazenga LuaLua meant he had few options to change his team, admitting afterwards that Izzy Brown was handed a start despite not being fully fit.
“I didn’t have the situation where I could rotate as much as I wanted,” he said, adding: “Izzy Brown was half fit. Izzy Brown trained two minor sessions, but Luke Berry felt his thigh in the last bit of training yesterday so Luke pulled out.
“I didn’t have Sonny available, didn’t have Kaz available so, unlike the previous three-game weeks, it was very, very difficult to freshen it up. Going forward, you need that.
“The only disappointment was Dan Potts. He’s irreplaceable here, he’s our only left-footed left back. His contribution in every single area of the pitch will be missed.
“It looks like a hamstring, so you’re probably looking at the international break now. I don’t know how severe it is but it’s disappointing.”
Yet hopes of avoiding relegation are still alive
and Jones said: “Charlton were nine points ahead of us seven days ago, and now
they’re five. We’ve made gains and that’s the most important thing this week.
We’ve made gains in our performance and also with points.
“I’m really satisfied. We’ll rest the boys up and make sure they’re fresh for
Wigan next week.”
