Lee Bowyer not getting carried away with early season 2nd place position for Charlton after battling win against Brentford
BY LOUIS MENDEZ
Charlton sit second in the Championship table after five games – but boss Lee Bowyer isn’t getting carried away with their lofty early season position.
The Addicks had to grind out a 1-0 home victory over Brentford, a result that leaves them still unbeaten on their return to Championship football.
Conor Gallagher’s first-half goal proved the difference at The Valley, but the hosts had to defend resolutely for large spells of the second-period to preserve their victory.
“It feels good [sitting in second],” admitted the Charlton boss.
“But we’ll be honest, there’s forty-odd games to go. But it’s nice to be there at the moment. The most pleasing thing for me is the way the team battled, fought and put their bodies on the line. They got their reward for it today. Three points, first clean sheet of the season. There was a hell of a lot of positives today.
“Yes we had to hold on. You’ve got to remember who we’re playing, the circumstances. We’re playing against a good Brentford side, a good footballing side who are tipped to be in the top six at the end of the season. For us to win and keep a clean sheet against them, especially after the effort my players put in on Wednesday. To recover, it was a quick turnaround, it might not seem much different to a Saturday-Tuesday but it is.
“To come away with four points over these two home games, against the two teams that we played against, I’m delighted.
“For me, these are the most important games. We battered Forest and came away with one point. Today, did we deserve to win? Probably not. But when you’ve got a group of players prepared to put their bodies on the line, the way they have done there. They couldn’t even get out of their box in the end. They were so tired. 30-degree heat. They just keep digging in and throwing everything at it. I’m so proud of them because they could not give me physically more.”
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Very hard-won match, well done. Not sure at all about Deji Oshilaja he was nowhere near his man for most of the time he was on the pitch, leaving their left wing to do what he pleased. Much more balanced when Lapslie came on. Leko looked totally disinterested and contributed very, very little. Looked like he hadn’t slept for a week. Taylor also looked very poor and hardly challenged anybody or chased anything vaguely near him. In my opinion, Williams was man of the match easily. Pierce and Pagely were also outstanding altogether an astonishing three points.