Lee Bowyer hails Charlton following gutsy Blackburn victory
Posted Sunday, April 29, 2018 by PA
Charlton caretaker manager Lee Bowyer praised his side’s spirit after they claimed a gutsy 1-0 home win over Blackburn Rovers.
Jason Pearce unintentionally applied a deflection to Ahmed Kashi’s 19th-minute shot for the only goal of the game, sealing a third-straight win and leaving the Addicks in control of their own play-off destiny ahead of next week’s final game at relegation-threatened Rochdale.
Rovers were unfortunate not to get anything from a second-half display which saw Dominic Samuel hit the crossbar and home goalkeeper Ben Amos make several vital stops.
The Valley caretaker boss admitted the hosts rode their luck at times, although he was suitably impressed by the desire and commitment from his charges.
Bowyer said: “It was a great win. I think you witnessed what we are about again today.
“We had a bit of luck, I won’t lie. They hit the bar and then the keeper made two exceptional saves.
“I think we deserved a bit of luck because of all the effort and fight we’ve put in over the last few weeks since I’ve been in charge.
“Sometimes you deserve a bit of luck and I thought that was the case today.”
Bowyer also feels nobody will want to face his side if they confirm their top-six placing in seven days time at Spotland.
He added: “I’m not really fussed about what anybody else is doing. It is all about what we do.
“We know we have to go to Rochdale and win and then we are in the play-offs, so it is in our hands.
“If we go and win next Saturday there is not one team who will want to play us in the play-offs, not one.
“Because if I was an opposing manager I wouldn’t want to play us. We’ve got everything.
“In that dressing room there, the togetherness we have and the fight, plus we have players who can play – and we do play football – we’ve got everything. We are the full package.”
Blackburn had already secured automatic promotion ahead of Saturday’s game and visiting manager Tony Mowbray could not fault his side’s effort despite the result.
Mowbray said: “I thought the team played really well and gave it a real go.
“Certainly in the first half I don’t think we were brave enough on the ball.
“In the second half we showed the spirit that we normally do and probably deserved to get something from the game. We didn’t.
“There were some bizarre decisions but that’s OK, you get them most weeks in these league. You have to just get on with it.”
The Blackburn manager also felt things could have been different after failing to make their second-half dominance count – had Bradley Dack not been ruled out through injury.
Mowbray explained: “The players did the best they could but sometimes top players make a difference.
“Would Bradley have scored and taken one of those opportunities in the second half? Probably but he is not available so we have to get on with it.
“It is part and parcel of football. You are only as good as the depth of the squad you’ve got.
“We showed we’ve got a lot of good qualities but Charlton are a decent team. They have some very good players and dug in to get themselves a result.”
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