Dillon Phillips’ penalty save proved pivotal in Charlton’s win at Plymouth, according to boss Lee Bowyer

Lee Bowyer admitted that Dillon Phillips’ penalty save proved the turning point as Charlton went on to win 2-0 at Plymouth.

The Addicks had been second-best before Phillips denied Graham Carey from the spot after forty minutes, with Lyle Taylor going on the break the deadlock at the other end just two minutes later.

Igor Vetokele added a second shortly after the break and it was plain sailing there on in for the South Londoners.

“I think it’s fair to say [that the penalty save proved pivotal],” said Bowyer.

“It shows that Plymouth are a good side. I said that before we started. This time last year they were fourth in the league. They showed that. For the first half-hour of the game they were the better side. They moved the ball well and they created chances.

“Once Dillon makes the save then it’s like it gave us a wake-up call, and we started doing what we’re good at. We started dominating the game. From the penalty save onwards, we were the better side. We’ve got players that can hurt you. Lyle, great movement for his goal and a great ball from Solly for the first goal. Williams exceptional down the left for the second. We had to change things shape wise because they were causing us damage. Once we did that, we were comfortable and deserved the win.”

The game saw Bowyer reach the milestone of 50 league outings in charge of the Addicks and whereas he is pleased with how his tenure is gone, he feels there is still plenty left to achieve – including trying to catch the top two in League One.

“It’s been good but there’s still a long way to go or me,” he explained.

“We’ve got six games left and we’ve got to win all six of them. I said to the lads before kick-off that we need to win them all. If we do that, we’ll be in and around that top two. The teams in front of us are going to make mistakes – that’s a given. We’ve got to be there in case they slip up.”

Krystian Bielik made his return from injury at Home Park but was once again withdrawn after going down more than once and feeling his ankle.

“We’ll have to patch him up and see how he goes,” Bowyer added.

“We didn’t want to take too many risks with him. It was a precaution that he had to go off. We’ll have to see how he goes. He has a problem with his ankle still and he realises how important he is to us, sitting there in front of the back-four.”