Billy Davies admits he needs to add men to his young Nottingham Forest squad after beating Charlton.
New Forest boss looking to add experience after win
Billy Davies admits he needs to add men to his young Nottingham Forest squad after beating Charlton on Saturday.
New Forest boss Davies breezed back into management with a 2-0 victory at The Valley to boost his side's survival bid and nudge the Addicks closer to the drop.
But the Scot, back in the game 13 months after leaving Derby, admitted his young side were fortunate after being outfought and outplayed by the hosts in the opening stages.
"It's a nice start, but we showed our age in the first 20 minutes. Physically it was men against boys," he said.
"I'm very pleased with the three points, the commitment and work rate but to compete at the top end the younger boys have to grow up quickly and we need men alongside them."
The hosts laid siege to the Forest goal for the opening half-hour, with Deon Burton, Matthew Spring and impressive 16-year-old Jonjo Shelvey all going close.
Lucky
Davies added: ""The home side started brightly in the first 25 minutes and deserved to go in front.
"They put us on the back foot and we never responded, we never did what we tried to do at the beginning of the game which was to compete and compete well."
But Charlton failed to find the target and were hit by two sucker punches in two minutes before half-time.
First, skipper Mark Hudson only half-cleared Matt Thornhill's cross, Paul Anderson scuffed a deflected shot back towards goal and Nathan Tyson was on hand to prod the ball past Rob Elliot.
Shelvey shot straight at Forest keeper Paul Smith as Charlton went in search of an equaliser - but moments later they found themselves two behind.
Matt Holland misjudged a back-header towards Hudson allowing Rob Earnshaw to nip in behind the defender and lob the exposed Elliot.
Forest were rarely threatened after the break, which was just as well according to Davies, who wants to add some older faces to the side he inherited from Colin Calderwood.
"When I looked at the bench with 20 minutes to go I saw a couple of babies next to me," added Davies, who almost took the Charlton job after Alan Curbishley left in 2006.
"My predecessor did a great job in getting this club to where it is now.
"But in my opinion, to compete at the top we have got to look closely at the squad.
"We are not going to dive into the transfer market for the sake of it, but if the right ones come our way and we feel the situation is right for us then we will do something."
Charlton are now seven points from safety following a winless league run of 17 games, and Phil Parkinson has yet to taste victory since taking the role on a permanent basis.
Unhappy
Parkinson was unimpressed by his side's wastefulness in front of goal and also scathing of his defence.
"In the first 30 minutes we had numerous chances to take the lead, we didn't take them and then we gifted them two goals," he said.
"If you are a defender playing for us you might say how many chances do our strikers need to put the ball in the net, but any success is built on a resilience at the back and we gave ourselves a mountain to climb.
"But we will keep on fighting and keep believing."
