Charlton’s Jason Pearce after victory at Burton: It’s about time a smash-and-grab went our way

Charlton were finally the beneficiaries of a smash-and-grab rather than on the receiving end of one and skipper Jason Pearce couldn’t have been happier.

The defenders’ late strike gave the South Londoners a 2-1 win at Burton Albion, despite the Brewers dominating throughout.

“I haven’t played in many games (like that),” admitted Pearce, whose goal was his first of the campaign.

“It’s happened to us a lot in the past. We’ve been dominating games and we get done by a sucker punch. It was nice to have it the other way around. We know we can play a lot better than that. The most important thing is the three points.

“We were under the cosh from minute one. First-half, they were better than us. We got in at half-time at 1-1 which was important. We knew we had to regroup, change the system a little bit. We gave it a good go but they were still relatively on top. To get the three points is massive for us.

‘It was a difficult game for all of us. Everyone is knackered coming off the pitch. Everyone gave one hundred percent still but we weren’t at our standards that we’ve hit this season. It’s more pleasing. Jed made a couple of brilliant saves to keep us in the game. We’re delighted with the victory but performance-wise we know we can do better.

“I was pleased with my personal performance but more importantly it’s about the team and I thought everyone gave their all and put their bodies on the line. That’s what it is about. [Manager Lee] Bowyer’s come in and said that. Away from home on Tuesday nights, we haven’t had that in the past. The last few games everyone has given their all. It’s showing now – as Bowyer said we’ve got that side to us as well. Resilience. We know we can do better tonight but we can be very effective and are one of the better teams in the league.

“I gambled. Joe Aribo flicked it. It was a great ball in from Wardy. I thought it was going to go over. I was delighted when it went in, as you could see from my celebration.”

The Addicks had fallen behind in the first-period through Lucas Akins’ penalty, but were soon level thanks to a spot-kick from Karlan Grant, despite being far from their best throughout the game.

“It was massively important (to go in level),” admitted the 30-year-old.

“We still had a couple of good chances. That goes to show the boys don’t stop. We do keep going even though our performance wasn’t the standard we know we can play. It was important we went in 1-1 at half-time and then we knew second-half we’d have a chance.

“I was shouting it to the boys, make sure the minimum we get is a draw. A draw here is a good result. They’re a good team, they’ve got some good players. To come away with a draw, we’d take that. But it’s a brilliant result.”

The win made in four-in-a-row for the League One promotion hopefuls, who cemented their place in the top six.

“We’ve got to keep building,” Pearce added.

“We know as players and the fans here that we’re a good team this year. We’ve got a lot about us. But we’ve got to keep our feet on the floor. The minimum expectation from all of us is to give our all. If we give our all, we’ve got some really good players in there who can win us the games and they have done this season. We’ve got to keep going and we will keep our feet on the floor and keep working hard.

“[The fans were] brilliant. They were really behind us. Even when we weren’t at our best they stayed behind us so I can’t thank them enough for their support. To get the three points for them is brilliant.”