Charlton travel to the County Ground on Saturday to take on Swindon Town and, after watching some of their recent games, Lee Bowyer insists his side will need keep their focus.
Supporters can watch Saturday's game on Valley Pass Live. Click here to purchase your pass.
The Addicks are coming off an impressive 5-2 home win against AFC Wimbledon, in the first Valley Pass Live production, and Bowyer was hoping to build on that game in midweek against Bristol Rovers.
That game had to be postponed after Covid-19 outbreak at Rovers, and with results elsewhere, a win on Tuesday would have moved Charlton in to second place.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference Bowyer said: “I’m disappointed obviously, because our preparation was good. Coming off the back of a good result, the players were in a good place and ready to go, so it was obviously disappointing.
“You can take the positives, we could have more players back by the time is rearranged. You can look at it that way. Obviously if we had won on Tuesday, we would have gone second, so now we’ll have to wait for another date. It is always good to get the points on the board rather than piling up games and having games-in-hand. If we would have won, and we were in a good place and ready, we would have gone to second place.
“Tuesday’s results, no-one would have predicted them. In our division, any team can beat any team because every team has got players that can hurt you. There aren’t any easy games, I wish there was!”
The Addicks boss explained he would still be without the injured Andrew Shinnie for Saturday’s game and said Albie Morgan is set to return to training on Monday after a period of self-isolation. Alfie Doughty, Ryan Inniss and Akin Famewo remain long-term absentees, so Bowyer will have the same squad available that he had for Saturday’s win.
Speaking of the opposition he said: “I watched them beat Oxford away, which is not easy, we know Oxford are a good side. The games they’ve lost [recently] they’ve been in them. I’ve watched four different games and they’ve changed formation regularly, so it is tough to work out what they will do. They’ve played four different formations from what I have watched. The most important thing is that we turn up on the day, we do things right and start right. If we do that then hopefully we can get the result that we all want. It is more on us, we’ve got to focus on us.”
With just weeks until the January transfer window reopens, Bowyer said the salary cap, voted in this summer, will make things difficult to do much business in January.
He said: “It will be tough for any side to do any business. This cap, love it or hate it, is making it a lot more difficult for people to bring in players and change things around. We’re no different to anybody else. We’ve got a tiny bit of money left over, we are under the cap by a little bit, so we might be able to move a little bit but unless you are way under the cap and you’ve got money, it is going to be tough.”
Supporters can watch Saturday's game on Valley Pass Live. Click here to purchase your pass.
Supporters with a pass for Saturday's game and Valley Pass subscribers can watch Lee Bowyer's pre-game press conference below.