Gary Rowett gives his verdict on Lyle Taylor’s injury absence ahead of Millwall-Charlton derby

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Gary Rowett reckons Charlton Athletic have plenty of decent players in their ranks – even if Lyle Taylor misses out on a return to Millwall on Saturday.

The forward has been out with a knee injury, sustained while on international duty with Montserrat, since the end of August,

Charlton manager Lee Bowyer, speaking after Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to Preston, declared that Taylor, who had scored in five of his first six games this season, was definitely out of the derby this weekend.

Lions boss Rowett said: “We’re not going to be overly concerned over who plays necessarily, because whichever team they put out on the pitch is a team capable of beating you.

“So we’ll be respectful of that.

“My first thought when I heard the comments over the weekend that Lyle Taylor will definitely not be fit made me think he’s obviously, definitely fit!

“But, to be fair to Lee he is an honest guy. He’s probably mitigating the fact that he hasn’t been back and people probably want to know why he hasn’t been back – because of his importance.

“But they’ve had some players who have stepped in and done really well in his absence. And they are a team. They aren’t just a team regarding one player.

“But I have been impressed with him [Taylor}. He is a player I’ve followed quite a bit over the years. He’s one who started so well and then dropped down the leagues but worked incredibly hard to get back.

“All I can hope is that he is not on the pitch if a penalty goes against us because he has got a great – very composed – way of taking them.

“As a manager if he misses it then you’d hate it and go mad at him. But he is actually effective at what he does. He is very calm and cool at what he does. He has shown a maturity to his performances.

“I don’t like to talk about opposition players too much. But I think Charlton have got lots of other good players regardless of how is fit and not fit.”