Goalkeeper Dillon Phillips says that Charlton will never give up hope of achieving automatic promotion, with the Addicks currently sitting eight points behind second-placed Barnsley.
Charlton have eight matches to go in Sky Bet League One – including one against league-leaders Luton Town – and on Saturday they earned a goalless draw at Bristol Rovers.
And stopper Phillips insists that, despite the eight-point gap between themselves and the second-placed Tykes, Charlton will be ready to battle for promotion should it become possible.
He said: “Anything can happen, can’t it? Getting into the top two is out of our hands, really. We just have to keep winning games and if they [Barnsley] drop points, they drop points.
“We will either take some good form into the play-offs or get into that top two and whatever happens, we will be there and willing to fight for it.”
When in Bristol on Saturday, the Addicks drew 0-0 with Graham Coughlan’s team but it was the weather that stole the headlines as the harsh winds caused problems for both sides. Phillips believes that the weather played no part in the final score, however.
He said: “It was horrible conditions and probably the worst for football with the winds like that, so we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We also knew it wouldn’t be easy, even if the weather conditions were fine.”
One of the main talking points from the Rovers draw was one of the saves that Phillips made, which stopped Pirate’s striker Jonson Clarke-Harris from scoring what looked like a certain goal from a free-kick.
Clarke-Harris had scored six in six since joining Coughlan’s side in January from Coventry City and he scored a 25-yard screamer against Gillingham the week before. The save that Phillips made has had many calling it a contender for save of the season.
Phillips said: “I saw it late. It either went through the wall or over the wall - I can’t really remember - and luckily enough it held up in the pitch and I clawed it from behind me.”
With the international break coming up, where six Addicks have been called into their national squads, the break couldn’t have come at a better time, after playing three games in seven days.
Phillips says that once club football resumes, everyone in the Charlton squad will continue to fight for their place in the team.
He said: “We have got good competition for places and everyone is fighting for their lives to stay in the team or to get a chance every day in training. There will not be any complacency from us.”
Article by Brandon Prangell