Charlton have to take end-of-season form into 2017/18, says Josh Magennis

George Jones reports

Josh Magennis says it’s vitally important that his side carry their end-of-season form into the new campaign when it kicks off in August.

The Addicks signed off from 2016/17 by beating Swindon Town 3-0 at The Valley on Sunday, which made it four wins in five matches and three on the spin in SE7.

And the Northern Ireland international – who opened the scoring against the Robins - wants his side to produce a similar set of results when next season gets underway.

“The best form we had in the season came in the final run-in,” he said. “We’ve not ended up where we wanted to be. We wanted to be minimum in the play-offs and dreaming of automatic promotion or being at Wembley in the next couple of weeks.

“That’s not the case but it was important that we finished strongly and didn’t let the season dither out.

“Just because we’d got ourselves safe, we couldn’t just let it trickle away. It’s important that we take this momentum into next season and hit the ground running with no excuses.

“Even though we are off [on holiday] now, we’re not 100 per cent off. We have a couple of weeks and then we have to come back in for testing in peak condition, because next season is going to be a real push.

“There’s no room for excuses and we can’t leave any stone unturned. It’s important that we come back ready to go and then crack on from the get-go.”

As well as Magennis, Jake Forster-Caskey and Player of the Year Ricky Holmes also found the net as the Addicks cruised to victory against Swindon.

And Magennis was full of praise for tireless Holmes, who ended the campaign as the club’s top goalscorer.

He said: “Ricky’s like a Duracell bunny! I know that in a game he’ll make chances for me and it’s up to me to make sure I’m making the runs.

“I know that if I win headers then nine times out of 10 he’ll get on the end of them. We seem to have a good relationship, he’s got me a few assists this season and it’s important that we have people like him at this club for the progression of the club and us as individuals.

“The recruitment will be important this summer; it’ll be interesting to see who we sign when we’re on our summer holidays and it’ll be good to come back and push on again next season.”