Penalty hero Adam happy with the point
Adam Clayton’s late penalty was enough to secure a point for 10-man Town at Charlton Athletic this afternoon – and the midfielder believes it was just-rewards after a frustrating afternoon.
Clayton’s 88th minute spot-kick was his third goal of the season, with two coming from the spot, and he is unsurprisingly happy to continue with the highly-pressurised role.
“I’m more than happy to keep taking the penalties – I think that’s two for the season now, so hopefully we can win a few more and I can get my goals tally up!” ‘Clayts’ told htafc.com.
“Penalties can be nerve-racking, but you just have to keep your composure. You have to believe in the way you take penalties. I wait for the ‘keeper to go one way and then put it the other side. On other days it might not work, but thankfully today it went in.
“I’ve missed a couple in training, but I’ve not missed one in a game so far and I think that’s five or six now. I’ve not missed one competitively – I think the only one was against Stockport in the Manchester Senior Cup when I was at Manchester City. Hopefully I can keep that run going and become our Graham Alexander!” Adam joked, making reference to the former Preston North End penalty specialist.
Clayton’s celebrations were right in front of the 1,000+ Town fans at the Valley and he praised them for their great support:
“We’re all in this together. We’ve come up a League and if we’re going to be successful we need the fans just as much as anyone in the changing room. They travelled a long way today and hopefully we’ve given them a little bit back today, as we feed off their support as well. If we can keep that good relationship going, we’ll go far.
After losing Southern to a debatable red card in the first half, Clayton was happy with the resolve the Terriers showed – but not with the decision to dismiss his midfield colleague.
“It’s felt like a win in the end, because it was a frustrating 90 minutes for the lads. We got a few decisions that we didn’t feel were the right ones and I think you could see that frustration get released when we finally got the goal at the end of the game. I thought we deserved it.
“I didn’t even think twice about the tackle – when the ball ricocheted away I went after it,” Adam said of the challenge that saw Southern receive a straight red card. “In my opinion I don’t think there was any need for a red card; it just looked like two players going in for a tackle. I’ve not seen a replay yet so I don’t know if it was high or not, but at the time it just looked like two honest lads going in for a challenge – that’s all I saw.
“That massively influenced the rest of the game. Even though you’re not out of the game, having 10 men puts you on the back foot – especially against a decent team away from home. However, I thought the lads did brilliantly; we had a plan to stay in the game until the last 10 minutes and then go for it. Thankfully in the 88th minute we got that bit of luck.
“We came here with a game-plan to win, but as soon as Keith gets the red card that plan goes out of the window a little bit. We had to dig in and see what we could get out of the game. I thought the lads dug in well and did exactly what the Gaffer asked.”
Unfortunately Clayton also picked up his fifth yellow card of the season on the afternoon, which now rules him out of Tuesday night’s trip to Middlesbrough:
“Unfortunately these things happen,” he admitted. “If you’re going into tackles, you’re going to get booked now and again. All I can do now is rest up and get ready for the game against Leeds next weekend.”
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