Charlton boss Nigel Adkins said he spotted something in match-winner Ian Maatsen to convince him to play the Chelsea loanee out of position against Doncaster

Maatsen netted the only goal of the game – and his first in senior football – to hand Adkins his first win as Charlton manager and push his side into the thick of the League One promotion battle.

The Dutch youngster is a natural left-back but Adkins deployed him as a wide forward on the right, with great success.

“We played him on the right-hand side up front and I can’t imagine he’s played there before,” Adkins said. “But we saw certain things in him.

“He’s a talented footballer with great ability and pace.”

Adkins was pleased with the performance from his side, particularly in defence.

He said: “You have to give Doncaster a lot of credit because they are a good footballing side, as they have proved all season.

“I am very pleased with a clean sheet and three points away from home because it has puts us back in the race, which is important.

“We were resolute at the back and, even though Doncaster’s centre-halves did really well, I thought Jayden Stockley was a massive threat for us.

“Alex Gilbey was also phenomenal after being out for a long time. He did a very good job defensively against a very talented player like John Bostock, but also gave us energy going forward.

“At this stage of the season, you have got to pick up points and, while I’d have preferred us to have been better in possession, it doesn’t really matter whether you’re pretty or ugly when you’re doing that.”

Doncaster boss Andy Butler cut a frustrated figure as his side struggled to create chances against Charlton.

Rovers have now failed to win in their last six matches with their play-off challenge fading as a result.

“It’s another game where we’ve lost by one goal,” Butler said. “It was a mistake from us, a route-one ball that we failed to deal with.

“It’s disappointing from our point of view and it’s something I’ve got to address.

“I thought we dealt with it to an extent but we allowed them to dictate physically, which is not us.

“Louis [Jones] has had two shots to save and their keeper has had one save so on both sides it’s disappointing. We nullified them but at the same time we didn’t produce anything in the final third.

“There was no clinical chance for us and that’s disappointing with what we’ve been working on, just to have one shot on target.

“Up to a stage we were quite good. We created bits in the middle of the pitch, it’s just when we get to the final third where we lacked ideas.”