Jason Pearce says his team will give everything to keep their place in the Sky Bet Championship.
The Addicks scored in stoppage time against Wigan Athletic on Saturday to stay out of the relegation zone and keep their fate in their own hands.
The Charlton skipper and his teammates travel to Elland Road on Wednesday knowing three points would keep them in the league.
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He said: “Psychologically, not going into the relegation zone is great and it gives us a good opportunity going to Leeds.
“Of course you want it in your own hands, you don’t want to be going to Leeds in the relegation zone. Since we’ve been back, the lads have given their all and to be fair, we’ve been unlucky in quite a few results. On Saturday, we got a draw and we deserved to win the game in my opinion, we didn’t, but it is a massive point and it’s in our hands, so we’re going to go there full of confidence and do our best, like we’ve been doing all season.
“It [equalising in stoppage time] shows great character from all of us, everyone kept going and kept giving their all and we got our rewards at the end.
“I’m hoping the people at home can see the lads are giving their all for the club and we’ll continue that on Wednesday.”
Pearce was also quick to praise some of the Academy graduates who have made a real impact at the club this season, despite a lack of experience in the Championship.
“Us older lads have to set an example in training and games,” he explained, “and Bow expects a certain standard and the young lads have come in and been great. I don’t think anyone saw Josh [Davison] starting against Wigan because of the lads that have been playing but he’s fully deserved his chance today. He’s been doing brilliantly in training, he’s a handful and I was delighted for him.
“Alfie [Doughty] is a young prospect coming through and he’s done great and Albie Morgan as well. They are all doing really well, they’ve come into the team and they look like they should be there all the time. They are keeping good players out of the team as well. Credit where credit is due for the young lads, they’ve been great and pushing the other lads, so we’re all pushing each other, now we’ve got one last push for the Leeds game, which is going to be a massive game, a tough game but we still believe that we can get a result.”
Pearce isn’t expecting any favours from his former club on Wednesday. He said: “I’ve been promoted a couple of times in my career and the manager always want to finish the season on a high, so I think they will make sure they are focussed and ready. At the start of the season their aim was to get promoted, and they have done that now, so I just hope we can catch them on a bad day and we are fully on it. We’ll give our best on the day and hopefully we’ll get a result. You never know what their mindset will be like.”
It remains very tight at the bottom of the table, with seven teams battling to stay above the bottom three and Wigan Athletic currently appealing a points deduction.
“It goes to show the standard and the quality of the league,” the veteran defender said. “As a player it is great to play in, you can win any game, you can lose any game, it is all about consistency in this league, so if you can get consistent in your performances and your results you can really move high up in the league. It’s been great to play in, obviously I would prefer to be higher up in the league but we’re still fighting, we’re still playing to stay in the league because everyone wrote us off at the start of the season. Everyone said we were going to get relegated whatever happens and at the moment it is still in our hands and we are fighting to stay up, so credit to all the boys, the management and the staff at this club.”
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