Lee Bowyer reckons Charlton would have beaten Millwall if Lyle Taylor was available today – and says he is edging back to fitness

BY LOUIS MENDEZ

Charlton boss Lee Bowyer reckons the Addicks would have beaten Millwall if they had Lyle Taylor available.

Taylor has been out since suffering a knee injury on international duty with Montserrat in early September but is closing in on a return to action.

The Addicks were beaten 2-1 by Millwall on Saturday but Bowyer felt it would have been a different story if he had his talisman in his side.

“Yeah [I think we’d have won],” said Bowyer.

“I also think we’d have beaten Bristol City and West Brom. He’s a big miss. He’s our main striker – he gives us everything. His hold up play, his end product. Whether he is setting them up or scoring, he takes chances.

“Hopefully Lyle might be in and around the squad or on the bench. We’ll have to see how he goes. He’s just started running again outside. Hopefully we don’t have any more set-backs with him.

“We need some attacking players because today we only had Oztumer on the bench as an attack-minded player. Hopefully we can start getting some of those more attacking players back.

“We’re still in the games. That’s the positive thing I can take from it. We’ve come here, we were better than them.

“And we’re still in the games. That’s the positive I can take from it. We were better than them and we’re a side who were tipped to go down – got eight injuries. Jonny Williams, has five or six assists. Oztumer was the only attack-minded player we had on the bench.”

PHOTOS: KYLE ANDREWS