Speaking after Charlton’s frustrating 2-1 defeat to the hands of Bristol City at Ashton Gate on Wednesday night, Lee Bowyer expressed his disappointment on the loss, Charlton's growing injury list and the upcoming trip to West Brom on Saturday.
On the loss….
“I thought we should have won the game. It’s hard for the lads and, again, I cant fault them. They give everything.
“I thought we were the better side, especially for 70 to 75 minutes. They changed their shape and matched us up and went to the diamond and even then, I thought we were still better than them.
“But I said to the lads; ‘we have to learn from this’. We have to be more ruthless. The amount of chances that we had in the first half in so many good areas and we just didn’t punish them. They’re a good side you know. But I thought we held our own today and we were better than them. They’re going to have chances, they’re at home. Our ‘keeper made a couple of good saves but so did theirs. He made more good saves I thought. So, to come away with nothing, I’m gutted.
“In this league, this is what happens if you don’t take your chances. You always give the others the opportunity to come back into it.”
On injuries…
“We’re rapidly running out of numbers. Jonny Williams had to have an operation on his knee yesterday. So, he’ll be out for a minimum of a couple of months. A minimum of eight weeks. It’s disappointing because he’s been doing really well, He’s been flying.
“Sam Field’s not looking good. He's done something to his knee. We’re running out of bodies, for sure.
“It’s a hamstring for Jake [Forster-Caskey], he’ll be out for a few weeks I guess. We just can’t get a break at the minute, you know? But it is what it is.
“Lyle [Taylor] has come out of the brace, so now I think we can start doing a bit of work with him but obviously he’s still a way off yet. It’s still weeks away.”
On looking ahead to the trip to West Brom on Saturday…
“It’s all about our recovery now because we haven’t got long. West Brom played yesterday so they’ve got an extra 24-hours recovery than us and that’s going to be tough to go there. So, the most important thing is the recovery and getting ourselves ready for Saturday.
“Obviously we’ll go there and try. I know the players will give me everything, I have no doubt whatsoever. So, they’ve got strengths and they’ve got weaknesses but so have we. I would have liked the extra 24-hours to recover but like I said we can’t change that. But we’ll go there and give everything.”