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Charlton Athletic defender Richard Wood writes exclusively for the KM Group

Charlton Athletic defender Richard Wood was up for the challenge against Leicester, but the Addicks suffered a disappointing defeat. Picture: Keith Gillard
Charlton Athletic defender Richard Wood was up for the challenge against Leicester, but the Addicks suffered a disappointing defeat. Picture: Keith Gillard

We were disappointed by the 3-0 loss against Leicester City on Saturday, but we won't be downhearted.

They were the best team we've played this season by a country mile and they're top of the league for a reason. But at the same time we didn't help ourselves with how we performed.

We weren't at it right from the first minute and against the top teams you will get punished for that. Unfortunately for us, on this occasion, we did.

We had a good week in the run up to the game with the wins against QPR and Sheffield Wednesday but there was no complacency. We just didn't start right and we've only got ourselves to blame for that.

Leicester are a very good team and they made the much better start. They got the first goal and, although I didn't see it at the time, the boys said that there was a touch of offside. Sometimes those sorts of decisions just go for the teams at the top.

With a massive FA Cup quarter-final against Sheffield United coming up some suggested we may have had one eye on that but we didn't at all. We were only focused on Leicester. The league is very important to us and we want to stay in this division.

Obviously we can now afford to shift our focus to the quarter-final but before the Leicester game we were going in to it hoping to get something. It just wasn't to be.

We need to move on quickly and just forget about that and focus, obviously, on the FA Cup but also on the league.

We have a lot of games coming up and a lot of them are against teams around us in the league so that is the main focus for us at this point.

If we can get to the semi-final that will be fantastic for everyone at the club and it would be special to see half of Wembley full to the brim with Charlton fans but we need to remember that the league is the most important thing.

In the last couple of months we've seen a number of our academy players coming through to make an impact in the first-team. Even games like the one at Leicester are good experiences for the young players, they'll learn a lot from that and it will drive them on and aspire them to be part of a top team like we all do.

It was a difficult game for them to play in but they can move on now and all the better for them to get the experience under their belt. They've all got great careers ahead of them.

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