Nathan Jones: Charlton not yet close to safety despite win over Birmingham

Nathan Jones refused to accept his Charlton side are on the brink of clinching Championship safety despite opening up a nine-point gap over the bottom three following a 1-0 victory over Birmingham.

Charlie Kelman’s 74th-minute strike at The Valley ensured that last season’s League One play-off winners moved further clear of danger.

Kelman has not been a regular starter since arriving from QPR in the summer but produced a predatory finish, his fifth goal of the campaign, just two minutes after entering the fray.

“It was a huge win,” said Jones. “The level of performance was outstanding. We had a load of good chances. In the first half we were on top but couldn’t find that little bit of quality.

“Every win is massive in this league and this stage of the season. I felt it was thoroughly deserved.

“Others had won or picked up points, so we knew we had to do that as well. It’s all about us getting to a points total we’re comfortable with and building from there.

“I don’t think we’re close [to safety]. You won’t feel that way until it is mathematical. That wasn’t our goal after the first 15 games. We didn’t expect to be in this position.

“We picked up injuries at the wrong time but now we’re coming through that. The performance levels have been good lately, we haven’t lost many. Could we have won a few more? Yeah. Have we let ourselves down with one or two performances? Yeah. But we are fighting and competing at this level, it’s only our first year back.”

Birmingham suffered a third straight league loss for the first time under Chris Davies, marking his 100th match in charge.

Asked about their hopes of a top-six finish, he said: “The play-offs are very unlikely now. We probably needed to get something here today. We would need an incredible run, which has been done before, but we can put that to one side for now.

“It’s about the next game and getting a result in that. We’ve got 10 games left, six at home and four away, we need to start getting some wins. We’ve still got a huge amount to play for.

“It was such a soft goal for us to concede. If you don’t get the first contact and it bounces then you have reduced your chances significantly of keeping the ball out of the net. We didn’t do either of those things. It’s extremely frustrating to lose a game like that.”