Nathan Jones has insisted that Charlton Athletic have it in them to compete with and be better than the very best teams in League One.
Charlton scored a shock 2-1 win over second-placed Derby County at Pride Park on Tuesday night.
While Derby are fighting for promotion, the Addicks are languishing in 19th in League One and changed managers mid-season to stay out of the relegation dogfight.
Charlton were 1-0 down going into the break but Jones insisted that he was not interested in damage limitation against Derby as he wanted his team to absolutely hammer them despite their respective league positions.
The Charlton boss stressed that his side have it in them to be better than the best teams in League One and in the second half at Pride Park they showed what they could become.
Jones said on BBC London: “We were keeping Derby at arm’s length but I don’t want to keep Derby at arm’s length – I want to knock Derby clean out.
“We believe with the club that we are that we’re going to be better than these teams – not keeping them at arm’s length.
“First half we were nowhere near to doing what we wanted to do to Derby. The second half was all about us.
“We conceded but showed the character to come back.”
It remains to be seen whether Charlton can continue their progress under Jones and climb up the league table for the rest of the season.
