Charlton are on a par with the League One pacesetters according to midfielder Ben Reeves

BY LOUIS MENDEZ

Charlton are on a par with the best sides in League One, reckons Addicks midfielder Ben Reeves.

Boss Lee Bowyer had said after Saturday’s last-gasp home victory over Plymouth Argyle that he felt the South Londoners were as good if not better than the likes of the division’s early pacesetters Peterborough United, Portsmouth and Sunderland.

Reeves, who provided the assist for Karlan Grant’s late winner , agrees with his manager.

“No doubt we are,” said the 26-year-old midfielder.

“We need to believe that as well. We’re starting to believe that. We know we can play better. Spells today where we were really good and spells where we weren’t as good or it was end to end. We all know we can get better and do it for ninety minutes as well.

“We’ve still got a couple of players out now but we’ve still got a great squad. In two weeks’ time you’ve got everyone back and you’re thinking who is even going to be on the bench, because we’ve got such a good squad. It’s not a case of who’s going to be in the starting eleven, it’s who is going to be on the bench because our squad is so good at the moment.

“The belief is important as well for us. We believe from the top. The manager and everyone down. The crowd as well behind us. It was great for us to get the winner right in front of them. Last year that could have fizzled out into a 1-1 draw. I think it was brilliant to get the goal right in front of the fans. They deserved it and we deserved it.

“I think the main thing for us at the moment is that we just know with the squad we’ve got that we should go into games hoping to win the games. There’s going to be a few hiccups along the way but we’re confident that we can go to places and win, like we did last week at Bradford.”

Former Charlton manager Karl Robinson signed Reeves as a free agent after his contract expired at Milton Keynes back in summer 2017.

Bowyer came in to replace Robinson following his departure to Oxford United in March this year, and Reeves sang the praises of his new boss.

“He’s been brilliant,” he said.

“Him and Jacko (Johnnie Jackson) working together has been brilliant. He’s kept things simple. Everyone knows what their job is, people know what they’re doing. You know that you have to work hard, that’s the first thing that comes into his side. Probably a bit like how he was as a player, which is good for us.

“It’s quite intense training sometimes now, everyone wants to get better. Fighting for places. Players want to play, players want to keep fit. You see like today, someone coming on from the bench could have got the winner. Players want to be that player who could make the difference.

“Training, every day, is demanding. When we won at Bradford, we were all in on the Monday and we knew that training was going to be difficult. He said after the game that training had to be really high quality and really intense on the Monday and the Tuesday, because we can play better how we played at Bradford. Training this week has been brilliant. I think we showed some of that on the pitch today.”

Photos: Kyle Andrews