Last-gasp goal hero Chris Solly believes that Charlton’s togetherness proved vital in their successful pursuit of a stoppage-time equaliser against Luton Town on Saturday.
The Addicks looked to be heading for their first league defeat in six matches until, on 95 minutes, Solly volleyed home his first goal in six years to level the scores.
The dramatic strike sent Kenilworth Road’s packed-out away end crazy and afterwards Solly revealed that his team’s never-say-die attitude is fuelled by the squad’s togetherness and team spirit, as well as by the brilliant support they received.
“We’ve got a great team spirit this year and it reminds me of the squad we had a few years back,” the academy graduate said. “We’re as close off the pitch as we are on it.
“We do stuff together outside of football. It’s a close-knit group and that bodes well when you’re on the pitch.
“You can see when you come to places like Luton and you need to dig out a result, that togetherness comes through.”
He added: “Out fans always travel in big numbers [to places like Luton]. They’re always massive for us. Coming to places like this, they out sung nine thousand of them massively.
“It was nice to give them a little reward at the end and send them home half happy and now we look forward to Tuesday.”
Charlton have come from behind to claim points – two wins and a draw – in three of their last four matches and Solly says that their impressive goal threat has also been crucial to that.
He said: “One of the biggest differences now is I always feel like we’re going to score goals. We can go 1-0 down and I’d still fancy us to come back and win 2-1 or 3-1.
“Maybe we didn’t have that the last couple of years. It’s a big thing. Lyle Taylor has been a massive signing for us. Karlan [Gran] has come back this season flying, Igor [Vetokele] looks fit and Nicky [Ajose] looks sharp.
“We’ve got four top strikers there who’ve got goals in them. It’s a massive positive.”