Johnnie Jackson is looking forward to another red-hot Valley atmosphere to help push the Addicks on as they host Ipswich Town in SE7 on Tuesday evening.
A near-capacity crowd is expected again for the visit of the Tractor Boys with thousands of season-ticket holders taking advantage of the free ticket offer as part of the #FillTheValley campaign and Jackson is hoping to see the fans play their part again, just as they did for the 2-0 win over Plymouth Argyle last month.
“I can’t wait to see it full again,” said the Addicks’ caretaker boss.
“The Plymouth game was something special that we really enjoyed and the boys definitely used that as an extra incentive and an extra man at times, so we’ll be looking to do that again.
“It will be brilliant to see it under the lights, it will be a different dynamic being a night game, so hopefully they’ll get behind us like they did at the Plymouth game, the boys will respond to that and, hopefully, it pushes us onto victory.”
The Tractor Boys head to London having seen the departure of former manager Paul Cook on Sunday, with former Colchester United and Swindon Town boss John McGreal taking temporary charge at The Valley on Tuesday night.
And Jackson admits that fact poses an extra challenge when it comes to preparation.
“Ipswich are one of the biggest, strongest squads in the league – in terms of the amount of quality players they’ve got – it’s going to be a test for us,” he explained.
“It may be a bit of a different dynamic than it would have been with the manager departing this week and someone else now taking the team, so you’re a bit unsure about how that’s going to look, whether it’s drastic changes in personnel or formation.
“It will be a tricky night for us, but it’s something we’re prepared for and ready for,” added Jackson.
“We’ll try to concentrate on us, what we do and how we do it, what we do well, what we’ve done well previously and try and replicate that. If we do, we know that we’ll cause teams problem.”
Meanwhile, Jackson is hoping to have skipper Jason Pearce available again after being sidelined with a knee injury in recent weeks, but Charlton will be without Corey Blackett-Taylor.
“Hopefully, Pearcey will be available,” he said.
“He came through training at the weekend, we’ll have a look to see if he can be involved so we’re hopeful that he will play some part.
“Corey Blackett-Taylor will be out for a few games. He has a little hamstring niggle.
“Obviously, we’ve had a bit of a hectic schedule with a lot of travel, so we’ve had to be careful and try to marry up how we recover, but also how we train and when we train. We feel we’ve had the best prep possible considering the travelling that has been done.
“We’ve had a lot of bodies out there on the grass today training and everyone is fit and raring to go, so we’re in a good place and approaching, what is a big game, full steam.”
