24 October 2020

Lee Bowyer happy to take three points on difficult day at Northampton

24 October 2020

Charlton manager Lee Bowyer cared about one thing only and that was the three points after his side’s scrappy 2-0 victory over Northampton

The Addicks were far from their best on a wet and windy afternoon at Sixfields but two second-half goals in the space of five minutes secured a third straight victory.

Darren Pratley smashed home from close range shortly after half-time and then Jack Sowerby’s own goal left Northampton starring at a fourth league loss in five matches.

“The most important thing is another clean sheet and the three points,” said Bowyer.

“I don’t care what the game looked like and how pretty it was, the conditions were tough, the pitch was bobbly and the wind blew a gale but we got three points and that’s all I care about.

“That’s what I said to the players after the game because when you want to win promotion, these are the games that you have to win.

“I thought Ben Amos was outstanding in goal, the two centre-halves were excellent and Darren Pratley made a real difference when he came on at half-time and we’re always going to create chances.

“For them as a group to gel and to have that fighting spirit so quickly is very positive and clean sheets and wins like today give you something to build on.”

Northampton manager Keith Curle felt there was little in the game bar two sloppy goals from his side’s perspective.

“I’m always going to be disappointed when we haven’t won or got something out of the game because we’re in it to win games and compete,” he said.

“I thought today we did compete very well, not just in the first half but overall. You only have to look at their team sheet to see the quality they have but we restricted them to two opportunities, neither of which were earned by them.

“The first goal, we’ve got to have better craft in our defending and worst case, put the ball out for a throw-in because a corner is always going to give them a chance to put the quality in the box and Ryan Inniss is a threat in both boxes.

“For the second goal, we have a chance to get the ball into their box with a long throw but we take the option of taking it short and dollying a cross into the area and that’s something we didn’t want to do.

“We worked on putting balls with pace into the box but we chose not to do that and they were able to break and score.”

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