Cardiff City 3-1 Charlton Athletic: Barry-Murphy praises response as Jones condemns Charlton performance

Cardiff City produced a convincing second-half performance to beat Charlton Athletic 3-1, with manager Brian Barry-Murphy praising his side's response after conceding, while Charlton boss Nathan Jones described his team's display as unacceptable.

Barry-Murphy felt Cardiff had produced the kind of performance that their recent play had deserved, particularly after responding quickly to Charlton's goal.

"It was a very important game for us. We felt as if we'd been playing reasonably well and we have to do it again. We knew today's game was going to be tough, but we played a great game, created really good chances and we took enough of them to win.

"We obviously had a real awareness of what Charlton do and how effective they can be, but we got into the spaces we needed to and created good chances. I was particularly pleased with the response to conceding the goal because that was obviously a test for us.

"We bounced back pretty much straight away and kept creating good chances. In the second half, I felt as if we ran out deserving winners."

The Cardiff manager also pointed to the belief within his squad despite results not always reflecting their performances.

"You don't always get what you feel you deserve. We were clear with the players that there were certain games where we weren't at our best, but we had full belief that if we kept playing the way we were playing and managed to score the goals we felt we would, we could win the game."

Moylan makes his mark

One of the positives for Cardiff was the contribution of Jack Moylan, with Barry-Murphy highlighting the qualities the summer signing brings to the squad.

"We felt as if we were bringing a player who would improve the squad when we bought Jack Moylan. He has qualities we probably didn't have before.

"He's a very dangerous player in the situations you saw him in today. The big appeal for us was because of where he's come from, he has a lot of improvement in him. The way he's working means he will improve a lot and become a great player for the club."

For Charlton, however, the afternoon represented a significant departure from the standards Jones expects from his side.

Jones: 'We were inept'

Jones made no attempt to disguise his disappointment after seeing Charlton struggle in almost every aspect of the game.

"It's an unrecognisable performance to what we normally do. We got outworked, outbattled, outran, outpassed, outthought - everything about it.

"Ironically, we've had three massive chances in the game, but that would only have papered over the cracks of a really poor performance."

The Charlton manager acknowledged Cardiff's contribution but felt his own side had given the hosts too much freedom to dictate the game.

"We give Cardiff credit because they played well, but we allowed them to do what they wanted. Our intensity in our press, reading the second balls, our physicality - all of it meant it was quite easy to play against us, that's the big thing I'm embarrassed about."

Jones was particularly critical of Charlton's work without the ball, taking responsibility for a display he felt fell well below the required level.

"We were inept. How we pressed, the work-rate we had - we were really poor. That's not taking anything from Cardiff, because Cardiff would have had to do something right to have really tested us, but that's an unacceptable performance from us out of possession, and that's why we conceded what we did.

"To get any foothold in the game, you have to pass the ball well enough, and we didn't. When they pressed us, we just gave the ball away, so we were never able to build anything. All in all, that's a really poor performance from us."

The result gives Cardiff further evidence that their performances are beginning to translate into results, while Charlton will have to respond quickly after a display their manager described in unusually blunt terms.