Michael Appleton was pleased to get his first win as Charlton boss on Saturday afternoon as the Addicks ran out 3-1 winners over Wycombe Wanderers.
“It’s almost like a striker joining a club for the first time and getting off the mark,” he told local press. “You want to get it as early as possible. And against a side like Wycombe it’s even bigger, because they’re in such great form at the minute.”
After an excellent first half for Charlton, the Chairboys began to find a way back into the game after the break, but Appleton was not phased by this spell of pressure.
“We knew that at some point they would have a real presence in the game because they’re a group of men who, for the last five, six, maybe seven years, have been playing at the top end of this division and winning games most week. So we knew it was going to be tough at times and that first 25 minutes of the second half was hard.
“But what I’ve seen from the group was a great determination to keep the ball out the goal. I like to think that we gave [the players] a little bit of help by freshening it up when we could, and picking the right moments to do it. Fortunately today that worked.”
In a season where, on paper, the Addicks have at times looked a little light up front, the boss was pleased with the recent returns of Chuks Aneke and Miles Leaburn to complement the arrival of Bodan Tedić.
“Miles is getting fitter and fitter. Chuks came on and it’s good to see him ragdoll people around. We’ve not seen that for a while but he made a huge difference last week,” said the boss. “And what can I say about Corey. To do that in the 95th minute or whatever, it just shows where he’s at.”
In a game where Appleton had to be flexible to accommodate all four of Leaburn, Blackett-Taylor, Alfie May and Tyreece Campbell, he discussed their interchanging roles across the front line: “There’ll be a time maybe one, two or three months down the line where there’s a fluidity of the front three, where they might start in central positions, but they might end the game on the left hand side or on the right hand side.
“That takes a hell of a lot of work on the training pitch. And hopefully over time you’ll get to see that.”
Finally, the Head Coach took the time to applaud the fans for their support: “It was nothing more than I expected because I witnessed it last week at Stevenage,” he said.
“We were a goal down, we were pushing to try and get an equaliser and they almost sucked the ball into the goal. They also played a part in terms of trying to get a penalty as well. Those are the type of things that could be crucial.”
