Charlton boss Lee Bowyer explains thinking behind substitutions during draw at Swindon

BY LOUIS MENDEZ

Lee Bowyer has explained his thinking behind the substitutions made during Charlton’s 2-2 draw with Swindon over the weekend – saying he was looking to learn from past mistakes.

The Addicks led 2-1 going into the closing stages at the County Ground but were pegged back in the dying embers as Brett Pitman headed home from a late corner.

The Charlton boss had thrown full-back Adam Matthews into the fray with 18 minutes left on the clock, replacing midfielder Marcus Maddison in a bid to shore up the Addicks defence.

Left-back Ben Purrington had already been introduced five minutes before that for engine-roomer Jake Forster-Caskey, in a move that saw Chelsea loanee Ian Maatsen push forward from the back-four and into midfield.

The South Londoners had been put under pressure as the Robins looked to find a way back into the contest but had kept them largely at arm’s length until Pitman’s last-minute intervention.

Bowyer explained: “I always go back and look at what we need to improve on. We did that even on the weekend just gone. We show them good stuff but we have to show them the stuff that isn’t so good. When we played Burton, we had a meeting and we went through the defensive mistakes we made on the day. At the end of the day, they’re human beings and they’re going to make mistakes. That’s life and that’s football. If no one made any mistakes, there would be no goals.

“We went back on the attacking side of things from the weekend and once the players see that, visually, they’re like ‘wow, how did we not put this game to bed.’

“It comes down to decision making, split seconds. When you’ve played the game, everyone knows you’ve got a split second to make the right decision. We got too many of them wrong at the weekend. That was the immediate thing looking back at what we need to improve on.

“We can only go so far back because we’ve had such a big turnaround again in players. You try and learn from mistakes you’ve made in the past, that what I do.

“On Saturday, we changed shape and I still felt we were comfortable. Okay, they had a bit more possession but everything was in front of us. When they did cross it, we had that extra defender to clear it. They didn’t actually have a shot on target until they scored, in the second-half.

“My thinking behind that, and this is where for me it’s learning, looking back, what can we improve on? Do you remember Coventry at home a couple of years ago? [Where Charlton led 1-0 with nine minutes to play but lost 2-1] That was the reason I made that decision. I learnt from that situation, that mistake that I made two years ago. We were comfortable, had dominated the game for 85 minutes. Their winger got past our full-back twice, put two crosses in, their forward lost our centre-half twice and scored two goals.

“On Saturday, their wing-back went past Ben Purrington a couple of times and put good crosses in. It only takes one of the centre-halves to slip, or that number seven who was tricky and scored a good first goal. I thought ‘why put ourselves in that situation, we don’t need to now.’ We kept breaking on them and didn’t take the chances, so it’s ten minutes to go, let’s see the game out. We don’t have to score four, five to take the three points. It was only the set-piece that cost us.

“That’s something that I always look back at, what can I improve on for us as a team and me as the manager? I’m always, constantly trying to improve us and myself.”

PHOTOS: KYLE ANDREWS