Charlton Athletic F.C. boss Nathan Jones openly criticised goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski following Tuesday night’s 3-1 defeat to Portsmouth F.C. at The Valley.
The rescheduled Championship clash — originally abandoned in December due to a medical emergency in the crowd — carried significant weight for both sides, who began the evening hovering above the relegation zone. Portsmouth, starting the night just one point clear of the bottom three, claimed a vital win that lifted them to 19th in the table. Charlton remain 18th, seven points above the drop with 14 games left to play.
“He has to save that”
Speaking after the match, Jones did not shy away from apportioning responsibility, pointing directly at his goalkeeper over two of the visitors’ goals.
“I think the first one is a goalkeeping error. He has to save that,” Jones said in an interview shared on social media. “We can close down and block shots, but we can’t block everything. From that distance, you expect him to save it — especially the first one. The second one, we’ll have to look at. It was that kind of night.”
Portsmouth’s opener came via Terry Devlin’s long-range effort, which swerved in flight and appeared to wrong-foot Kaminski. Although Colby Bishop doubled the lead from the penalty spot, it was Devlin’s second strike — another attempt from distance that crept in at the near post — that further intensified scrutiny on the Belgian stopper.
While the third goal was less clear-cut, given the movement and angle of the shot, Kaminski will be disappointed to have been beaten twice from range. To compound matters, he also collected his second yellow card of the season.
A rare off night
Despite the errors, it seems unlikely Kaminski will lose his place. The 33-year-old has been an ever-present this campaign and had been in strong form prior to this setback, keeping three consecutive clean sheets against Leicester City F.C., Queens Park Rangers F.C. and Stoke City F.C..
With experienced backups in Will Mannion and Tiernan Brooks available, Jones has options — but Kaminski’s consistency over the course of the season suggests this was more an off night than a wider issue.
Still, as Charlton continue to battle for Championship survival, performances of this nature cannot become a trend. With the margin above the relegation zone far from secure, the Addicks will need their number one to quickly rediscover the reliability he had shown in the weeks leading up to this defeat.
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