Lee Bowyer hails Charlton team spirit after narrow win over Burton
Posted Wednesday, March 13, 2019 by PA
Lee Bowyer lauded the team spirit of his Charlton Athletic side after they ground out a 2-1 victory against Burton Albion at The Valley to stretch their unbeaten home league run to 13 games.
The former Leeds United midfielder acknowledged that his side were not at their dominant best like they were when they saw off promotion rivals Portsmouth the previous weekend, but he was just as pleased with the qualities shown against the Brewers on what was a bitterly cold evening in south-east London.
“I thought we dug deep and ground out the result,” he said. “Sometimes you have to do that. The groundsmen have done brilliantly to get the game on.
“It was not the best of games, but this is the type of game we didn’t win last season. That’s credit to the lads and their togetherness.
“The fans played a massive part, especially in the second half, because I could tell the lads were tired, naturally because of the effort of Saturday, but they got behind the lads and kept driving them on.”
Top scorer Lyle Taylor notched his 14th goal in League One this term with a cool penalty after being pulled down by John Brayford before the Brewers equalised from the spot through Lucas Akins.
Taylor then turned provider to whip in a superb cross for Ben Reeves to power home a header for the winner, which puts the Addicks 11 points clear of seventh-placed Peterborough United.
“How quickly (the gap) has opened up over two games,” Bowyer said. “It can go the other way within two games.
“For me, it’s not about what the teams below us do. We just need to concentrate on what we’re doing.
“There are still nine games to go, which is a lot. If one of the top two want to throw it away, we have to be in the position to grab the opportunity.”
Nigel Clough once again rued his side’s profligacy in front of goal and remarked wryly that he hopes to see the back of Tuesday night’s opponents at the end of the campaign, having lost 2-1 at the Pirelli Stadium in the corresponding fixture.
“I’m going to see Lee for a drink and discuss how they’ve been lucky for a second time against us,” he joked.
“We’ve played very well twice against Charlton and got no points. I sincerely hope they go up so we don’t have to suffer it again next season if we’re still in this league.
“It’s the same old problem for us – we don’t do enough in the final third to hurt the opposition.
“It’s not been good enough all season, but our general play at times has been exceptionally good tonight.
“We were in the situation where they cross from (for the winner) probably 10 times more and nobody produced that ball.
“It’s a magnificent cross. Five, 10 seconds before that we were on the edge of Charlton’s box.
“We reversed one, lost it, they broke, produced the cross and the header and we lose the game 2-1.”
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