Lee Bowyer was hurting after seeing his side concede a stoppage-time equaliser at St Andrew’s against Birmingham City.
The Charlton Manager believed a win would have ensured his side’s safety and the draw leaves the Addicks two points above the relegation zone, with two games to play.
Speaking of the result he said: “We can’t see a game out, we don’t manage it well. Other teams they manage the game better going into injury time, they slow things down, they get fouls, they buy fouls, we don’t do that. There is no way that they should score there, we’ve got three centre-halves on the pitch. They’re bombarding our box with long balls and long throws, it was the only way they were going to score. For the ball to get squared across our six-yard box and for someone to get a chance when you’ve got three centre-halves on the pitch, it shouldn’t happen.
“I feel like I’m saying the same things as the weekend. We should have won this game comfortably, we hit the post, we had chances, missing clear-cut chances from four yards out again, in the middle of the goal. You miss things like that, you don’t win. Once you go 2-0 up, done, the game is done. We had so many chances for that to happen.”
Bowyer felt his side improved after the break and created enough chances to win the games.
“First half we got in behind them a few times,” he said “but we lacked that quality in the final third. Second half I thought we were much better at that side of things. The last pass was always good. We made the right decisions and the weight of pass and everything was good. We just didn’t put the ball in the back of the net. As long as it is 1-0 they’ve always got a chance to come back. It should have been done. That’s why we are in this situation because since we’ve come back, we’ve missed too many chances.
“If we won tonight, for me, I think 49 points is safe, looking at who the other teams have to play. That would have put us on 49, with our goal difference, I think we would have been safe. To concede the way we did, it hurts a lot. We’ve got another big game at the weekend, can we go and win that? Of course we can. On our day we can beat anybody but today hurts. Even coming back from this lockdown, the amount of pressure and chances we’ve created, we should be way out of sight. There is no way we should be competing to stay in this league, it should be done, we should be safe.”
Bowyer praised Dillon Phillips, who saved a first half penalty and was also complementary of Alfie Doughty, who set up Macauley Bonne to give the Addicks a 58th minute lead.
He said: “Dillon played well and made a couple of good saves. Alfie’s learning the game. He’s done well, has good energy. Some things he does are not good, he’s still learning. He’s a young kid, playing in the Championship. He did well for the goal. Alfie was good today. I think a lot of them played well tonight."
Saturday’s opponents Wigan Athletic beat Hull City last night and Bowyer’s attention now turns to that game: “We’ll move the ball, we’ll create chances and we’ll defend well. Yeah, Wigan are on a high, but it’s not like we’re playing badly. Again, we were the better side again tonight, we came away with a point and it could be a valuable point.”
Lee Bowyer's post-match press conference is available below for Valley Pass subscribers and those who purchased live video streams of the game against Birmingham City.