Karl Robinson hails Tariqe Fosu impact

Posted Sunday, January 21, 2018 by PA

Charlton manager Karl Robinson praised the returning Tariqe Fosu for an inspirational display from the bench in the 3-1 home win over Walsall.

Both sides went in at the break on level terms after Joe Aribo’s opener was cancelled out by Erhun Oztumer’s 41st-minute equaliser for the Saddlers.

Fosu has been out for two months but returned to the fold early in the second half when replacing Ben Reeves.

And he underlined his talent with a quality performance which helped Charlton secure a third straight win thanks to Kory Roberts’ own goal and a late third from Stephy Mavididi.

Robinson said: “I am proud of the players. Walsall are a really good team so we knew it was going to be a hard afternoon.

“Ezri Konsa made a sensational tackle (when it was 1-1) but other than that we hit the bar, we hit the post and it could have been a lot more clinical than it actually was.

“When you can take off Ben Reeves and bring on Tariqe Fosu who is fresh, it gives you an impetus and more of a second gear.

“We had that today and I am pleased for Tariqe. It is great to have him back and I said in the huddle ‘He has worked hard the little man’.

“It has been 10 to 12 weeks he has been out, so we’ve missed him. Now he has got to concentrate on his football and make sure he keeps his feet on the ground and he vies for a place in the team maybe for next Saturday.”

Charlton retain sixth spot in the table and Robinson is looking to build on a recent upturn in fortunes and put even more pressure on their promotion rivals.

He added: “Shrewsbury drew, Scunthorpe lost and Bradford lost so we’ve made nine points up on Bradford in three games, which is an amazing overhaul of points.

“We’ve put ourselves in a very good position to now not just look to nick points to try and drag us a little bit closer.

“The likes of Blackburn and Wigan would like to think they can kick on, but there is no reason why that can’t be the limit in some ways that we’ve still got to aspire to get to because this team is certainly capable of winning a number of games.”

Walsall manager Jon Whitney acknowledged his side had played their part in an entertaining clash, even if that was scant reward for their overall efforts.

The Saddlers boss said: “It was an outstanding 90 minutes of football and it is a shame for one team to lose it, especially with the application and some of the football from our lads.

“In the first half I thought we stayed in it really well. Their goal was a little bit against the run of play.

“They are going to put you under a bit of pressure at this place but I thought we were a danger on the counter.

“The second half in the first 25 minutes it looked like there was only going to be one team who were going to go and win it, but we didn’t take those chances, especially the one in the first couple of minutes when Joe Edwards hit the bar.

“You probably need to take that chance and it changes the game. Then we can change our tactics a little bit and frustrate them like they did to us at 2-1.

“That second goal was a bit of a sucker punch but we still created after that.”