Lee Bowyer hails Lyle Taylor’s ‘brilliance’

Posted Wednesday, November 21, 2018 by PA

Lee Bowyer praised Lyle Taylor after the striker’s hat-trick helped fire Charlton into the FA Cup second round after a 5-0 win over Mansfield.

Taylor twice combined with Nicky Ajose to put Bowyer’s side in control of the first-round replay and on course for a meeting with Doncaster.

The former AFC Wimbledon striker completed his treble after Mark Marshall had made it three before Ajose wrapped up the win.

And Addicks manager Bowyer believes the combination of Taylor and Ajose made the difference.

Bowyer said: “Lyle’s third goal, that’s just him. His brilliance – he does that every week in training.

“But you’ve got to praise Nicky for the first two he set up. How many times do we get into that situation and don’t make the right pass or right decision?

“It is the best game Nicky has had for us since I’ve been in charge. He ran in behind, he fought and chased the ball down.

Bowyer acknowledged the scoreline flattered his side with defender Patrick Bauer making a crucial challenge to deny Mansfield’s CJ Hamilton.

The manager added: “I’m over the moon for Lyle but there are a lot of other positives to come out of tonight. Patrick Bauer got an hour into him. Billy Clarke got another 70 minutes or so.

“I’d like to think I’m fair. I said they were a good team. It wasn’t a 5-0 result for me. They could have scored three or four. They missed some chances.

“Yeah be happy, I’m happy – but don’t get too ahead of yourself because trust me, on the night it wasn’t that result.”

Mansfield manager David Flitcroft admitted Taylor was the difference but insisted his side were hard done by.

He said: “Congratulations to Charlton. We had a really good chance last week to get into the next round and we didn’t.

“They’ve brought Lyle in and he’s a wonderful player. I rated him really highly when he was down at Wimbledon but I think what the management team have done here – the development curve he is on; he’s going to be a top, top player. He’s got everything in front of him.

“They had five or six opportunities to score and they took every single one.

“His third goal was Eric Cantona-esque wasn’t it? It was brilliant.”

Flitcroft added: “I evaluate the game how it should be evaluated. I feel for a group of players tonight and supporters who have travelled down who were on the end of what looks like a 5-0 kicking.

“But if you’re honest with yourself, which I always am, we certainly didn’t deserve a 5-0 scoreline.

“We’ve had good chances and at 1-0 down we stayed spirited, focused and true to what we do.

“If I’m being honest I was disappointed to go in 1-0 down. We rallied and even at 2-0 I genuinely believed we’d get back into the game. At 3-0 it was a travesty.”