Charlton Athletic U23s defender Lucas Ness spoke to Valley Gold for Academy Notes after the recent 3-0 defeat at home to a Brentford B team.
The centre-back who only signed for the Addicks earlier this year from non-league side Metropolitan Police told Valley Gold:
“This weeks fixture saw us host a well-drilled Brentford B team at Sparrows Lane. The wet and cold conditions were a good representation of how we started the game. Good feet and a tidy finish saw the away team go ahead in the first five minutes.
“Brentford’s constant pressure meant we found it hard to get the ball down and string passes together. However, a good run from Hady Ghandour resulted in a low cross that was unlucky not to find Jay Mingi. The game took a turn for the worse when a few bad tackles resulted in the two sets of players coming together which was met by yellow cards and some stern words from the referee.
“The work rate from Brentford continued into the second half which meant we were finding it hard to get up the pitch to test their defence. We were able to get a couple of chances to come back into the game when Aaron Henry put in some good set-piece crosses which were met by Charlton headers that were close to going into the back of the net.
“We were then punished when a long shot from the Brentford number 10 went through a couple of bodies and into the bottom left corner. Then once again when a fast break ended in a rebounded shot which Nathan Harvey got a hand to, but was unlucky to not keep out of the net.
“Overall, it ended 3-0 in a performance that we had a lot to learn from. Hopefully, we can redeem ourselves in our next fixture in the London Senior Cup against AFC Croydon.”
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