Charlton crashed out of the EFL Trophy after suffering a 1-0 defeat to Swansea u21s but assistant manager Johnnie Jackson says the exit is no disaster.

Adnan Maric’s second half strike gave the Swans the victory in front of Charlton’s lowest ever crowd of 740 and put an end to the Addicks’ run in the competition.

“In the grand scheme of things, is it a disaster? No,” said Jackson.

“Because of just the fixture pile-up we’re faced with and the injuries we’ve got in the squad obviously is stretching us right to the limit at the moment,” said Jackson.

Debut Delights

Jackson admitted he was disappointed in the defeat but the blooding of debutants Brendan Sarpong-Wiredu and goalkeeper Ashley Maynard-Brewer was a positive to take from the game.

“It’s nice from our point of view as coaches to be able to give kids debuts and see them make that progression.

“It’s a great opportunity for the young ones to show the manager whether they are ready to be involved with us, can we rely on them to throw them in if need be?”

Speaking of Maynard-Brewer: “It seemed a good opportunity to see what he can do and give him the opportunity of a debut. I think he did ok, he didn’t let us down tonight."

Also making his first start was Billy Clarke who’d been side-lined with an ACL injury for 11 months. Tuesday’s captain Clarke, who came off the bench in Sunday’s FA Cup draw at Mansfield Town played 77minutes as he looks to get back to full fitness.

READ:Billy Clarke on returning to the first team set-up

Also working his way back to full health is Tariqe Fosu-Henry. Having missed a portion of games at the start of the season Jackson believes he has yet to hit the top form he showed last season.

"We know what he is capable of.

“He needs to play his way back into form, that was the idea behind giving him more minutes tonight. Sometimes to really get up to speed, to get back to top form, you just need to keep playing. The more he plays, I’m sure the more he’ll get back to that level."

Charlton’s next game is the FA Cup replay against Mansfield Town on Tuesday November 20 at The Valley.