Club captain Greg Docherty has expressed his pride following the Addicks' victory over league leaders Birmingham City at The Valley.
Striker Matty Godden bagged his third goal in five games to seal a big three points for Nathan Jones' side, ending Blues' seven-game winning run.
“Saturday was really good," said Docherty. “Off the back of two negative results in the week leading up to it, it was important that we put up a strong performance and show the fans that we care. We were hurting just as much as them. It was really enjoyable to play in, everyone played their part and from minute one we thoroughly deserved the win.
“I was so proud of the team... the mentality shown off the back of those difficult results and a bit of scrutiny from the outside, which is only natural - we had been underperforming. That sets a benchmark now and it sets us up nicely to go and kick on from this. Ultimately it's only three points, but three massive points for us against the team at the top of the league. It gives us a real confidence boost.”
The Scotsman highlighted the importance of the supporters at the weekend, admitting the atmosphere in SE7 gave the team that extra burst of momentum.
“It’s what we play football for, to celebrate with the fans," he smiled. "We could feel it from the warm-ups and from minute one. They really got us over the line. As a team we were comfortable in the game - I didn’t feel that we were under big spells of pressure at all - but the fans really helped us. I can’t emphasise how big of a 12th man they were for us at the weekend.
“These are the days that brought me here to play in front of that crowd at The Valley. The crowd is growing every week and when we play like that, you know that they will be fully behind us. It's clear for us to do more consistently now. We expect to win our home games and that's something we need to keep on doing.”
“Birmingham have had a lot of talk and hype about them, and rightly so because they are a really good footballing team. We didn’t have a lot of time from the Tuesday game to work on them - we changed a few things and it's credit to the staff for believing in us to go and do it.
"I was immensely proud as captain to see my teammates fighting for each other, filling in different roles and being in different areas of the pitch. Everybody was confident and that's massive. We really set our stall early and I feel that gave us a right good foothold in the game."
Docherty stressed the significance of heading into the international break with a positive result ahead of another three-game week.
“It's what the fans deserved and what we wanted as players to get those bad performances away and go into the break on a high," explained the midfielder. "There's a bit of time bow between the next few games. We have another huge week coming up - three games in a week - and we will look to maximise that as well.
“We have a very good and very talented squad; you can see that has been utilised this week. On Saturday the subs came off the bench and really gave us that extra bit of energy and quality. We have that all over the pitch and it's a real fight to get in the team. That's what you saw on Saturday is people desperate to keep their place in the team.”
The Addicks return to The Valley on Saturday, October 19th to take on Stockport County. Click here to purchase your tickets.
