Bowyer proud of Charlton players after good start to season goes on

Posted Sunday, August 25, 2019 by PA

Lee Bowyer beamed with pride after his unbeaten Addicks went second in the Sky Bet Championship table with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Brentford at The Valley.

The Addicks were second best for long periods and failed to reproduce the high quality display from Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest.

But despite not quite reaching those heights, Conor Gallagher’s 41st-minute strike was enough to seal all three points against their London rivals.

Bowyer said: “It feels good (to be second) but if we are being honest there are still 40-odd games to go.

“It is nice to be there at the moment. The most pleasing thing for me is the way the team battled, fought and put their bodies on the line. That is the most pleasing thing and they got a reward for it today.

“They got the three points, the first clean sheet of the season so there was a hell of a lot of positives from today’s game because we had to hold on.

“But you’ve got to remember who we were playing, the circumstances. We were playing against a good Brentford side, a good footballing side who are tipped to be in the top six at the end of the season.

“So for us to win and keep a clean sheet against them, especially after the effort my players put on on Wednesday (a 1-1 draw with Forest), to recover – it was such a quick turnaround.”

Chelsea loan star Gallagher made it three goals from four games, leaving the Addicks boss more than happy with his contribution so far.

Bowyer said: “He has impressed me obviously because he takes on the instruction that you give him. The game is simple.

“As a midfielder you are can either be three types of midfielder – an attacking one, a defensive one or an all-round midfielder. For me, Conor is an all-round midfielder.

“I said to him yesterday you have to do the dirty side of the game, you have to play against that man and then you track him.

“But then as soon as you win it, that man doesn’t want to track you so you keep making those runs.

“It hurts at times but if you keep making those runs and getting in the box things do drop for you. Things will happen and you will score goals.

“Thankfully again today Jonny Williams won the ball, he ran off his midfielder, Jonny slipped him in and it was a great finish.”

Brentford boss Thomas Frank still managed to take plenty of positives, despite losing the game.

He explained: “I think we did a lot of things right. In the second half, we changed quickly when we couldn’t put on enough pressure by putting on a winger as a wing-back and then put on another winger as a wing-back.

“Everything we tried to change. In the end I think we played with I don’t know how many offensive players but I think we had two or three defenders.

“We did enough by far to walk away with the three points and I’m very satisfied with the away performance in terms of dominating and creating chances.

“It was extremely solid because we gave away one chance, which of course is a big one, and it was our own mistake.

“We should played the pass and need to react quicker because there was plenty of time to react in that situation.”