Jonathan reviews the goalless draw at Charlton
Midfielder Jonathan Hogg was delighted to be back on the pitch contributing to the team as they came away from Charlton Athletic with a point on Wednesday night.
The former Watford man had missed the previous two games through injury, but returned to the side and put in a typically energetic performance as Town kept a ninth clean sheet of the season at the Valley.
“It was nice to be back out there with the lads,” he admitted. “It wasn’t the greatest of games or the greatest of pitches, but I thought it was a good, strong performance; we looked solid throughout the game. A 0-0 draw was probably a fair result.
“I’m enjoying it at the Club, but I’ve struggled with a couple of different injuries this year, which is quite unusual for me. I need to find out why that is. Obviously it’s not all about me – it’s about the team winning games – but I absolutely hate missing football matches.”
Hogg explained that the state of the pitch at the Valley, which has been an issue for the Addicks this season, was something that Town took into account when going about their business on the night.
“The Stadium is fantastic, but the pitch is absolutely shocking! I’ve never seen anything like it to be honest; it was rock solid in places and there were puddles in others. It wasn’t a pitch where we could get the ball down and play like we want to. We had a bit of a game-plan ahead of the match and I thought we played the conditions quite well.”
Jonathan went as close as any other Town player to breaking the deadlock on the evening, testing ‘keeper Ben Hamer with a powerful first-half volley.
He continued: “I’m really keen to get another goal – it’s something I’ve been working quite hard on in training. The ball fell to me today and I just hit it, but the ‘keeper got down to it; that’s just one of those things. Hopefully next time it will go in.
“I’m not really known for my goal-scoring, but it’s nice to get a bit further forward and get into those positions.”
Town will now prepare for Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship game at home to Blackburn Rovers.
“We’re looking forward to that. It’ll be good to get back on our own pitch, which is a lot better than the one out there tonight. Hopefully we can play our football in the style we want; we want to get forward, excite the fans, score a few goals and get all three points.”
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