Charlton boss felt his side dropped two points against Southend United at The Valley today.
The Addicks conceded a deflected goal in the 22nd minute but saw their opposition reduced to 10-men just five minutes later when Dru Yearwood was sent off for a foul on Jonny Williams.
Charlton pressed forwards and registering 21 shots on target, including Ben Reeves’ 59th minute equaliser, but were unable to score a winner.
Bowyer’s full press conference will be on Valley Pass later today. Below are key talking points.
On the game…
“It’s two points dropped. We’re miles better than them. If anything them getting a man sent off might have made it harder. The first 10-15 minutes we were very, very good. They got a goal from nowhere really, against the run of play, a deflection. It’s tough to take. We got it into the final third so many times and that ball into the box was just not good enough.
“(Their) keeper made two or three great saves but we have to do better you know. It’s frustrating. We’re close but we can’t keep dropping points like that, that’s two games on the spin now that we should be winning.”
On Jonny Williams getting consistently fouled…
"He’s a good player. How do you stop a good player? You kick him and that’s the treatment he’s getting at the moment. He’s just got to brush himself off and keep going. He’s a strong lad. To be fair it’s not just him. Our players seem to be going past someone and then just getting hacked down. I don’t know how many Tariqe (Fosu) got fouled today in the first half especially. It doesn’t make any difference though how many times you get fouled.”
On Mark Marshall playing up front in the first half…
“I tried it, it didn’t work. We lost 30 goals from two strikers (Karlan Grant and Lyle Taylor) the last two games, so we tried something different. He went back out wide (in the second half), put a good ball in for the goal but him and Tariqe, their end product was not good enough today.”
On Josh Parker, making his second substitute appearance since joining on deadline day…
“He was better this week. It takes time to get used to players but I thought he did well when he came on. He was a threat. He did really well.”
On Ben Reeves…
“I said to him at half-time ‘If you don’t get in the box you are coming off’ because we’ve got too many players that want to hang around on the edge of the box – very rarely to you score from there. You need to gamble and get across people and anticipate where the ball will drop. He got across his man and scored a great header. I’m glad he listened.”
On the return of Lyle Taylor, who served the final match of a three-game suspension today…
“I can’t wait to get Lyle back. It’s been a lifetime ago since he last played. We’ve missed him, that’s obvious. Of course you are going to miss someone with his qualities. I can’t wait to get him back.”
Lee Bowyer's full post-match press conference will be available on Valley Pass shortly. A half-season pass costs just £30 while a monthly pass is £6.50. Click here to sign-up.
