Marcus Maddison will have to work harder if he wants to play for me – Lee Bowyer has his say on Charlton Athletic midfielder’s full debut

BY LOUIS MENDEZ

Summer recruit Marcus Maddison finally made his first start in a Charlton shirt during the FA Cup defeat against Plymouth – but will have to go further to impress boss Lee Bowyer after a “rusty” display from the midfielder.

Maddison’s Charlton career was off to a delayed start after he had suffered a minor ankle injury in training but the former Peterborough United man, who was arrived as a free agent during the off-season, was in from the off in the cup tie against the Pilgrims.

“If I was to use one word, it would be rusty,” said Bowyer, when asked what he made of the 27-year-old’s full debut.

“At times you could see he was trying to do the right thing but it’s just not coming off for him. If he wants to play for me he’s going to have to work harder, I know that. I don’t doubt his ability. I know that will come with time.

“That’s why we had to probably push him a bit today to start. We’ll start him again on Tuesday, hopefully. As long as he’s come through this unscathed then he’ll start again Tuesday [against Leyton Orient in the EFL Trophy]. We need to get as many minutes into him, sensibly.

“Get him game time so he can start tidying up on that rustiness that he’s clearly got. You can tell he’s seeing the right things but he just couldn’t make it happen today. That just takes time.

“I’ve just said there to Maddison that ‘I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt’ as that was his first minutes for us. Apart from five minutes the other week. He’s just come back from an ankle injury and he’s the one exception you can give a bit of leeway to. But not the rest of them. It wasn’t good enough. Especially in the final-third. We got into some great positions but then we were so sloppy. Giving it away cheaply in and around their box. Not good.”

PHOTOS: PAUL EDWARDS