Lee Bowyer pleased with Charlton’s progress

Posted Sunday, September 23, 2018 by PA

Lee Bowyer feels Charlton are starting to come together as a team after a 2-1 victory over Plymouth moved the Addicks up to sixth in League One.

Two goals by Karlan Ahearne-Grant, including one three minutes from time, extended Charlton’s winning run to four games.

Bowyer said: “I see what they can do every day and my job is to persuade them how good they are. Because they don’t realise how good they are.

“We haven’t got a massive squad, but they’re all good players and they all bring something different. We’re in a good place.

“We deserved a win, I think from the first minute we dominated the game and then they hit us with a sucker blow. They didn’t get into our area before then.

“The most pleasing thing for me is that we went to the end, especially the last 10 minutes.

“Grant is scoring goals as a striker and that’s what you’re judged on. Him and Lyle Taylor worked well together up top, both are looking for each other.”

It was Plymouth who took the lead at a rainy Valley, when an unmarked Graham Carey headed home a Joel Grant from the left.

The last only lasted for three minutes though, as Ahearne-Grant poked home from close range after Jason Pearce knocked a header in his path.

Plymouth goalkeeper Matt Macey saved a Lyle Taylor penalty in the 37th minute but Ahearne-Grant finished from six yards late on to seal victory.

Plymouth remain bottom of League One without a win, and manager Derek Adams rued his side’s luck.

“We started the game very well, we went ahead with a great ball into the box from Joel Grant and a great header,” he said.

”But then they get a goal which we believe is a foul on Matt Macey, he went up for the ball but his hands were stopped from getting to the ball. The referee got that one wrong.

“The penalty was soft from my point of view, and they’ve got a goal that was a bit scrappy. We didn’t deal well with the ball in the box.

“We took the game to Charlton and we had a lot of good performers. We had a left-back playing at right-back, we had a left-winger playing at left-back.

“We’ve been doing this for the majority of the season and not getting our just reward. We’ve got a long way to go. You saw the commitment.”