Lee Bowyer credits rare Sunday off for Charlton’s win at Wigan

Posted Wednesday, March 03, 2021 by PA

Lee Bowyer revealed an unexpected Sunday off laid the platform for Charlton to get back to winning ways with a 1-0 victory at Sky Bet League One strugglers Wigan.

The Addicks had seen their play-off bid suffer a huge blow at the weekend, when they finished a 3-0 home defeat to Blackpool with nine men after two red cards.

But Bowyer elected to use the carrot rather than the stick in response and was rewarded as Chuks Aneke scored the only goal on 19 minutes at the DW Stadium.

“If anything I took a step back from it and I asked them to do the same,” the Charlton boss said.

“Sunday was the first Sunday we’ve never been in before a Tuesday game since I’ve been in charge.

“I just felt it was right to let them have the day for rest, to have a think and to evaluate.

“Then when they came back in yesterday I told them to lose all the pressure, not to over-complicate things.

“The most important thing I wanted from them – apart from obviously the result – was to try and play football, make the right decisions, do the basics right.

“If you do the basics right, you’ve always got a chance in a game. I thought it was very good, from start to finish.

“We performed well, we won our individual battles all over the pitch, on a difficult pitch.

“We created a lot of chances and the only criticism is we should have scored more goals. Apart from that, I thought we played well and deserved the win.”

Aneke was one of the two players sent off at the weekend, but saw his dismissal rescinded on Monday – and the forward took full advantage.

“I thought he was immense up there tonight,” added Bowyer. “And on his day, he’s unplayable.

“The only disappointing thing from my point of view is that he didn’t score more goals. He could have had three or four goals tonight if he’s really wanted it.

“But he’s got one, he’s won us the game, so credit to him for that.”

For Wigan manager Leam Richardson, whose side remain rooted to the foot of the table, there was once again no lack of effort or endeavour.

But a defensive mix-up between Curtis Tilt and Tendayi Darikwa proved decisive, as Wigan struggled to get anything going at the other end.

“The lads huffed and puffed, applied themselves well, gave everything, but just without the little bits of quality that’s needed,” said Richardson.

“It was a game that we could have won, in my opinion. But it’s not enough to come up with good performances, we have to turn those into results and points on the board.

“We’ve had a few good performances of late, but we’ve not been able to go the extra yard and get the results we’ve actually deserved and obviously needed.

“We’ve been getting chipped away at for nine months now, on and off the field.

“It’s my job and it’s everyone’s job, to make sure all that doesn’t affect us too much.”