Lee Bowyer gives verdict on Charlton Athletic’s struggle for goals

Lee Bowyer doesn’t feel he and his coaching staff can do any more for Charlton Athletic to click in front of goal.

The Addicks lost 1-0 at home to Reading on Saturday, the third time in four Championship fixtures they have failed to score.

Charlton’s attacking options have been depleted by totemic striker Lyle Taylor not returning once football emerged from lockdown.

Jonathan Leko and Conor Gallagher – who both had a big impact offensively in the first part of the campaign – saw their loans cut short in January. Leko suffered a knee injury which ruled him out while Gallagher opted to head to Swansea for the second leg of the season.

Tomer Hemed has not scored this season and attackers Jonny Williams and Aiden McGeady are also yet to notch during their stays in SE7.

Chuks Aneke was denied his second goal since arriving from Milton Keynes last summer when his finish against the Royals at the weekend was struck off incorrectly for offside.

Macauley Bonne netted in the 2-1 loss at Brentford last week to move into double figures for the campaign but that was the first time he had netted since Boxing Day.

Asked about the lack of goals from his frontline options, Bowyer said: “We’ve just got to keep creating chances and hope someone can take them. That’s all we can do as coaches – keep trying to do the right things, get in the right areas to create chances. We’ve done that every game.

“Okay, at Brentford we only created two or three chances but we created enough to beat Hull more convincingly. QPR was the same, we should have beaten them more convincingly. With the chances we created we should’ve beaten Millwall. It was the same on Saturday.

“Cardiff as well was a game that could’ve gone either way.

“I’m not talking half-chances, I’m talking proper chances. They should be goals. That’s what is frustrating me – what we’re doing on the training pitch is working.

“The players deserve credit for creating very good chances but they just ain’t taking them. There’s nothing we can do about that – we work on the finishing all the time but when you’re out there [in a competitive game] it is completely different.

“We can’t do no more than what we’re doing. We’re doing everything right from back to front and playing out. We look good. The amount of times we played through them [Reading] at the weekend but it was just that final bit.

“After the game I said to people ‘you need to step up and grab those opportunities’.”

PHOTOS BY PAUL EDWARDS