Johnnie Jackson insists his Charlton side must travel to promotion-chasing Rotherham United with a positive mindset this weekend.
The boss is under no illusions about the test awaiting his side at the AESSEAL New York Stadium, but highlighted the fact that the Addicks make the trip to South Yorkshire on the back of just one defeat in five.
“We are going there on a decent run of form,” said Jackson. “Even in the defeat to Lincoln I think we played well and on another day we win that. We are in a decent place, we need to go with a positive mindset and I think that we can go there and get a victory.
“It’s going to be a difficult game,” the gaffer added. “They are a good team that is flying high. They have just come out of the top two so they will be looking to bounce back into the automatic promotion places.
“They have got some real threats all over the pitch, but we will be going there to try and win the game. That will always be our mindset and we will get a team out there that we feel is capable of doing that.
“Like any team they will have their strengths, but they will also have weaknesses to exploit. We had a really good game against them at The Valley earlier in the season; we were in the ascendancy and certainly pushing for the win in that game. It was a good, competitive game and I expect another one.”
The boss provided an update on Ben Purrington while also reporting a few cases of fatigue within his squad.
“Ben took a nasty knock towards the end of the game on Tuesday,” Jackson explained. “He was pretty much incapacitated for the last 10, 15 minutes there as well, so we almost had nine men by the end. He’s sore but it’s nothing too bad; it’s probably just an impact injury.
“We’re assessing some tired lads that came out of it and have played a lot of minutes in the last two games with 10 men, which doesn't help with trying to manage and balance your squad.
“It’s going to be a challenge to freshen it up as best as we can and pick the right ones that we feel can go to Rotherham and get the result that we want.”
(Transcription by Alex Forrest)