Charlton boss Lee Bowyer has seen positives despite his side taking no points since Lyle Taylor was ruled out

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Lee Bowyer reckons a positive for Charlton Athletic is that they are still creating chances without talismanic striker Lyle Taylor.

The Addicks’ top scorer will be missing again this weekend for the visit of Championship leaders Leeds United. He faces around two months out with knee ligament damage, and looks set to be in a leg brace for a number of weeks before he can step up his recovery.

Charlton have failed to score in the two matches that Taylor has missed – a 1-0 defeat to Birmingham City at The Valley and a 2-0 reverse at Wigan Athletic last weekend.

Bowyer said: “You can argue we ain’t got Lyle and he’s our main striker, you take  him out of any team it is going to be more difficult. But the positive side for me is we still created chances – against Birmingham we created enough chances to get something out of the game.

“We created chances at the weekend. They aren’t just falling to one person. Josh [Cullen], Macauley [Bonne], Tom [Lockyer] and Tamer [Hemed] – they are four different players who had good chances. Not half-chances – good chances.

“You can’t just say it is because of Lyle, because they wouldn’t just fall to him.

“Josh made a great run into the box and, to be fair, he did everything right. He headed it down and back the way it come  – but the keeper made a world-class save. It was behind him, I don’t know how he saved it.

“Tom is a centre-half, he’s eight yards out – he’s just got to put it in the corner but he slices it and it goes wide. But again, no-one near him. He could have taken a touch – that’s how much time he had. They are clear-cut chances, not half chances.

“Don’t get me wrong, if that falls to Lyle I think he scores.”

PICTURE BY PAUL EDWARDS