Charlton boss Ben Garner has been encouraged by a positive training week ahead of Saturday's trip to Bolton Wanderers.
The Addicks travel north on the back of a comfortable 3-0 victory over Gillingham in the opening fixture of the Papa John’s Trophy in midweek, preceded by a hard-fought point at Wycombe Wanderers in League One action last weekend.
“It’s been a really good week so far,” said Garner. “Every individual player has had what they needed this week. We had a group that prepared and played on Wednesday night and we’ve had a group that have trained all week as well.
“I was really pleased Wednesday night, I thought it was a really good performance. We played with real bravery and courage with the ball and we had great enthusiasm and energy in the team. It was great to see so many of the young players coming in and doing well but also some of the senior first team players were instrumental in that. The influence they had on the pitch and the way that they helped them give us control in the game was really pleasing.
"Likewise, it’s been a really strong week on the training ground, so from a footballing perspective we're very happy and hopefully that translates into a good performance tomorrow.”
The manager provided an update on the fitness of his squad ahead of this weekend's trip to Lancashire.
“We’re assessing one or two this morning," Garner revealed. "Chuks [Aneke] and Mandela [Egbo] are still recovering really well. Mandela has been out on the grass this week and has stepped up his recovery which is good. Steven Sessegnon has been out on the grass this week as well which is great.
"Corey Blackett-Taylor has trained and will come back into the fold and Conor McGrandles as well. We've got one or two coming back in this week which is big for us.”
“[Ryan Inniss' injury] is not too serious. Like I say we’re assessing one or two this morning but it won’t be a long period of time if he does happen to miss any football.”
Saturday’s opponents Bolton currently sit tenth in the table with Ian Evatt’s side winning two, drawing two and losing two, the latter two of which came in their last two league outings.
When asked if he takes notice of a team's form heading into games, the gaffer said: “Not really, to be honest. You can play a team that has lost five in a row and then they’re fantastic. You can play a team that has won five in a row and then they’re not great on the day so it’s about what happens at three o’clock tomorrow.
"We’ve just got to focus on us. We’ve prepared very well this week. We need to look after ourselves now in terms of the journey and the physical preparation going into the game. Then we need to perform, focus on what we’ve set out to do and go and deliver it as best we can.”
The Addicks will be seeking a first away triumph of the season at the University of Bolton Stadium on Saturday.
“I think we’re really unfortunate not to have done that in the three away performances we’ve had so far,” said Garner. “Accrington, Sheffield Wednesday and Wycombe we could easily have won each and every one of those games so we need to maintain that. We need to take the positives out of those away performances. Bolton’s a big pitch, a good surface and that will suit us. We’ll be looking forward to that and we want to go there and win the game.
“We want to do that in each and every game," he added. "The away support so far has been fantastic and, like I say, the performances have been good. We deserve more points from those games.
"We want to be making sure we’re getting the points that the performances deserve. Each and every person that travels, spends their hard-earned money and gives up their time to come and support us on the road, we’ll be giving everything we can to put in a good performance and hopefully get those three points.”
(Article by Tyler Rowlinson)