Dillon Phillips was outstanding on Saturday as he produced a Man-of-the-Match performance in the Addicks' thrilling 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage against Fulham.
The humble Charlton academy graduate was quick to praise his teammates as Charlton secured an impressive point on the road.
He said of winning the award: “I think the two saves at the end have obviously got me that, I don’t think I was man of the whole match but the boys really did well and dug in deep when we needed them at the end."
Watch Phillips full post-game interview on Valley Pass.
The 24-year old keeper picked up the award following a set of key saves which helped keep Lee Bowyer’s team in the game, including a great effort to deny Bobby Decordova-Reid in the final minutes of an intoxicating match: “I just obviously knew I couldn’t come for the cross, it was a deep cross, I had to work my feet quickly and get across to the other side and the fella gave me half a chance and I was lucky enough to be at the right place on the right time."
Replays showed Fulham's late equaliser should have been disallowed for offside and a disappointed Phillips admitted: “You get some of them and you don’t get some of them, that’s football. Obviously, there’s no VAR in the league so it is what it is. We’ll move on from that."
The goalkeeper was very impressed at the team's first half performance. He said: “I don’t think they’ll come up against something like that in the first 45 this season again, really. So, credit to everyone really.
"That’s credit to the way we set up and the boys that were out there at the time. That’s what we’ve worked on all week so it’s nice to see it come off on a Saturday."
The 24-year old explained the team’s fighting spirit inherited from last seasons’ promotion campaign has been key to the successful start to life in the Championship for The Addicks: “You don’t lose that, we’ve obviously kept a fair few of the boys from last year, and the boys that we’ve brought in have built into the way we want to do things, and the camaraderie of the group is great."
Phillips was also full of praise for the support shown throughout the match, he commented: “They were fantastic again, they keep doing it every week, and we keep praising them rightfully so. So thanks to them for coming in and obviously, it’s a local one so it was nice to hear them sing for 90 minutes.”
As the team head into the international break to restore their energy, Phillips admitted: “We need it after a long hard week of Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday. The boys put in a great shift in again, so it’s a nice break for us.”
Article by Jay Cohen