Charlton forward Omar Bogle delighted to put first-half withdrawal against Burton behind him with maiden Addicks goal at Ipswich

BY LOUIS MENDEZ

Charlton forward Omar Bogle had a point to prove after being hooked during the first half of last Tuesday’s defeat at lowly Burton Albion – but he did just that when he bagged his first Addicks goal seconds after being introduced from the bench at Ipswich.

Boss Lee Bowyer had withdrawn the 27-year-old striker after just 34 minutes at the Pirelli Stadium, saying Bogle had been “miles off it” during the 4-2 loss against the Brewers.

The former Cardiff City striker was amongst the substitutes at Portman Road but made an immediate impact after being thrown into the mix midway through the second-half – scoring with his first touch to put the game to bed as the Addicks won 2-0 and climbed up to third in the League One table.

Bogle was delighted that he was able to bounce back from the disappointment in midweek, saying: “Tuesday was a blip. It happens in football. It was important for me to put that behind me and obviously just try and respond. Even if it wasn’t with a goal, with a good performance to help the team. But obviously goals is what I’m going to be aiming for and striving for because I am a goalscorer.

“The gaffer has been great with me. As a striker you’re always going to get judged on goals. There’s probably not many mangers that, when you’ve got a striker you’re going to play them after six games when they haven’t scored.

“Ultimately, we get judged on goals. The gaffer has stuck with me. He’s been great with me, he’s helped me a lot. He’s been understanding that I hadn’t played football for a long time. It’s taken me time to get back to my best. I really appreciate him and it’s paid off today. That’s my thank you to the gaffer and the boys for being patient with me.

“For a striker, it’s important. To be an all-round striker you’ve got to do the dirty stuff, the hard yards for the boys and help them out. You get your rewards as a striker, like today. It’s important, it starts from us. For us to achieve anything this year, as a striker, whether it’s me, Chuks [Aneke], Conor [Washington] or Smythy [Paul Smyth], we’ve all got to play our role and do the hard stuff for the team for us to get what we want, which is promotion.

“Since I’ve been here, the way we’ve played has been great. We’ve got some great results. Tuesday was obviously a blip where none of us were really at the races. It was important that we responded. The gaffer drummed that into us. The next day we worked on things. We have to make sure that, going forward, we don’t let any complacency creep in.”

Bogle also spoke about his relationship with the Charlton fans since joining. A small section had posted disparaging remarks following last weekend’s draw with Gillingham, during which he had been engaged in a disagreement with Conor Washington over who would take a first-half penalty – an argument that Washington won before being denied from the spot.

Sandwell-born Bogle had then taken to Twitter that evening to admit he felt he was being scapegoated by a minority of the Addicks support, saying that “quality of play is irrelevant if you don’t score for the narrow minded.”

Bogle explained: “As a striker, a lot of people are just going to judge you purely on goals and not actually see what you do for the team. That was obviously disappointing. Because I felt like I had done well in the games I was playing in. But ultimately, I hadn’t scored and I felt like I was getting a bit of stick from the supporters – only from a few, a few Twitter trolls.

“I want to say a big thank you to a lot of the Charlton supporters. The support that I have got has outweighed massively the one or two comments that I’ve seen from other people. They’ve really supported me and sent me some nice messages. Some people have done it unprovoked as well, sent me some nice messages of support so I thank them as well.”

PHOTOS: KYLE ANDREWS