Lee Bowyer frustrated as individual errors see Addicks fall into the bottom three.
Charlton boss Lee Bowyer was left frustrated after his side were beaten 1-0 by Middlesbrough and fell into the relegation zone for the first time this season.
It was another defensive mix-up that cost Charlton on Saturday, Ben Purrington’s poor pass allowed Rudy Gestede to find Paddy McNair who slotted past Dillion Phillips to seal all three points for Jonathan Woodgate’s side.
“Frustrated. Disappointed, again,” said Bowyer. “You can’t just give teams one-goal leads, no matter what league you play in. We ain’t good enough to give teams a one-goal lead, for sure. It’s amateur.
“A ten-yard pass and you put them through – bang, goal. Taking that aside, I thought second-half we were the better side. We have to be more ruthless. We had three clear-cut chances. We have to score at least one.
Bowyer was pleased with his side’s second-half performance, He changed it at half-time bringing on Macauley Bonne who gave Charlton more of a threat going forward.
“I think we deserved at least a draw. I thought we were better than them in the second half. They hit us on the break every now and then because we were pushing so hard for the goal. The lesson learned today is that we can’t keep giving teams one-goal leads. It drives me mad.
“Everything that you work on all week, all your preparation, it just goes out the window. Again, I thought we started well. We were on top. We looked like the team that was going to score and then we just gave them a goal.
“Kids stuff. Last week was the same. My boy is eleven and he wouldn’t make that mistake. Professional footballers can’t be making mistakes like that. Because you get punished.”