Charlton manager Ben Garner praises Jesurun Rak-Sakyi

Posted Wednesday, August 17, 2022 by PA

Charlton manager Ben Garner saw Jesurun Rak-Sakyi shine on his debut as they thrashed Plymouth 5-1 and then backed the Crystal Palace loanee to scale even greater heights.

The 19-year-old winger took just 11 minutes to score the Addicks’ opening goal.

Charlton have a 100 per cent winning record at home under new boss Garner and had this contest wrapped up by half-time with Rak-Sakyi, Jayden Stockley and Sean Clare all on target.

Argyle centre-back James Wilson was shown a straight red card for handling Charlie Kirk’s shot in the 39th minute, with Stockley converting the resultant penalty.

Morgan Whittaker reduced the deficit in the 71st minute but it did nothing to halt Charlton’s dominance with Kirk and substitute Miles Leaburn converting for an emphatic win for the South Londoners.

“It was a great debut for Jes and he is only going to get better,” said Garner. “I think we’ve all seen tonight what a talent he has got. It’s great for him to score early on. Hopefully he can have a fantastic season for us.

“His biggest asset is his wonderful, wonderful balance. Couple that with close control and ability. But tactically tonight was most pleasing for me because he’s only had two days prep on how we wanted to press and be without the ball. He’s done that fantastically well for a young player.

“It was a really mature debut.

“It wasn’t quite the perfect team performance – I’d have liked the clean sheet – but really good to react from Saturday because there was frustration, I wouldn’t go as far as disappointment, to not get anything. You either get despondent and drop away or you roll your sleeves up and come back harder – which is what we did tonight.”

Plymouth boss Steven Schumacher had no complaints with Wilson’s red card.

“He hasn’t meant it but it has stopped a goal,” said Schumacher. “He’s just turned around and it’s hit his arm. I’m sure we’d be asking for a red card, it’s killed it. They have the extra player and they end up looking like Real Madrid.

“We were really, really sloppy three times in our own half and got punished by a good team. It’s a tough one to swallow.

“It is one we want to forget quick. The third goal right on the stroke of half-time killed it as a contest, we decided to take a few off who we might want to save for a couple of tactical reasons. We just didn’t want the game to become embarrassing. I didn’t think we gave in as a team, they gave it everything they’ve got and scored a really good goal.

“I’ll never question the players’ character. They are a brilliant group and give us everything they have got. Sometimes we fall short because of what we’ve got. They just didn’t start the game as well as we’d have liked. They definitely didn’t give in.”