Lee Bowyer disappointed after Charlton held to draw at Accrington

Posted Sunday, August 19, 2018 by PA

Charlton boss Lee Bowyer could not hide his disappointment after his side’s 1-1 draw at Accrington Stanley.

The Addicks, one of the pre-season favourites to go straight back up, took the lead through Karlan Grant whose header bounced off the crossbar and down, and was judged to have crossed the line, after 15 minutes.

They had more chances but Stanley fought back and their pressure finally told in the 78th minute when Sam Finley’s ball in led to a goalmouth scramble and it was Jordan Clark who eventually fired home.

The Reds could have then have won it through Offrande Zanzala and Clark and this left Bowyer livid.

He said: “It’s not good enough from start to finish. We were sloppy in possession, our decision-making at times was horrendous and it boils down to not being good enough today.

“With the players we started with and have coming off the bench, that result is not acceptable for me.

“One point coming here is not good enough. We spend all week working on things on the training ground but I can’t control that players don’t make the right decisions in the final third.

“We are not killing teams off. In my eyes, if we are going to be promoted, we should be coming here and winning.

“We should have had more goals than the one but then we are dropping deep and letting teams back into it.

“We play Peterborough on Tuesday and if play like we did today we will get thumped. We didn’t perform, it’s as simple as that.”

John Coleman was disappointed his side did not the game after showing their resilience.

“It was a good game and I think we played well, Charlton are a good side and we matched them all the way,” said the Reds boss.

“I was disappointed with the goal because it is a great ball in and a great header but we think we should defend that better.

“Then we showed a great character. The second half it was a bit scrappy, it was stop-start with a lot of niggly fouls and I think both teams lost their way a bit.

“In the last 20 minutes I thought we were terrific, we went for it, we got the goal and didn’t sit back. We went all guns blazing to get the winner and I think we were unfortunate not to do so.

“We showed a never-say-die attitude and we have shown we can compete at this level.

“It is more physical, the pace is quicker in this league but the lads are rolling up their sleeves and giving their all as they adapt.”