Lee Bowyer praises his Charlton players’ character during Swindon comeback – but says they should have gone on to win

BY LOUIS MENDEZ

Charlton manager Lee Bowyer praised his side for once again coming from two goals behind and claiming a draw at home to Swindon – but says they had to go on and win it.

Strikes from Hallum Hope and Matty Palmer saw the visitors in control at the break. Chuks Aneke halved the deficit half an hour from time with his tenth of the season, before Andrew Shinnie drew the hosts level inside the final minute of normal time.

The Addicks dominated large spells of the game, hitting the woodwork three times and also seeing a goal for Ronnie Schwartz ruled out by the offside flag. Conor Washington then wasted a chance to win it in the dying seconds after rounding goalkeeper Mark Travers but hitting the side-netting.

The results means the South Londoners remain inside League One’s top six, but they’ve played more games than all of the sides around them and have now won just twice nine outings – both scoring and conceding 18 goals in that run.

After the game, Bowyer said: “I have to give the players credit, they kept going until the end. But we should have won the game comfortably. We can’t just keep giving teams a one or two goal head start. We can’t keep doing that because we ain’t going to score two, three or four goals every game. Taking Tuesday out of the equation, today and last Saturday we’re creating a lot of chances but we have to do better.

“We have to convert them better than what we’re doing. Okay, we were a bit unlucky today – we hit the woodwork three times. In and around the box things weren’t dropping for us. But overall, of course I’m disappointed, I want to win every game. This is two points dropped in my eyes.

“The first [Swindon goal], Adam [Matthews] has to do better, has to. He’s a good full-back and that was too easy to just walk past him. Disappointing. They had two shots and scored two goals in the first-half. We hit the post, hit the bar. Chuks free header. We had chances, didn’t take them. Changed things around at half-time. Even then we should have still won on just the second-half performance.

“Shoot to the far-post. That’s what’s going through my head [when Washington has his late chance]. He’s obviously at a narrow angle. If you’re going to miss, you have to miss to the far-post. You can’t be hitting the side-netting there. You either cross it or you miss going for the far-post. You can’t miss near-post. Disappointing. We should have won there. Another chance. We should be winning. But I have to praise the players. They kept going until the end. Their work rate was excellent. We moved the ball well and created a lot of chances. We’re close.

“Ronnie’s goal is onside. It should stand. The officials were too keen to put their flags up today. In the first-half, in the first five minutes, Ronnie went through and the keeper made a good save onto the post. The linesman put the flag up. It was a back-pass! The linesman is putting the flag up. Some of the things happening today, it can’t be happening. Okay, taking the football side of it away, the officials play a big part as well. They’re part of it. Ronnie’s goal should stand. He’s onside from Liam’s little chip over the top. It can’t keep happening like this, decisions. It’s wrong.”

PHOTOS: KYLE ANDREWS