Albie Morgan: I want to cement my place in the Charlton side after goal against Fleetwood
BY LOUIS MENDEZ
Albie Morgan is determined to nail down his place in the Charlton side after capping an impressive fortnight with a goal against Fleetwood Town.
The academy graduate, who turns 22 next week, started each of the Addicks’ opening six league fixtures under Nigel Adkins but was soon bombed out and made just two league starts between mid-September and last week’s trip to Cheltenham.
But he was afforded a start at Whaddon Road, having impressed during a cameo appearance in the loss at Crewe in the midweek before, and then kept his place for Saturday’s win over Fleetwood Town – Charlton’s first in five league outings.
The midfielder has never made more than 14 league starts in a single campaign despite first breaking into the side in the 2018/19 season. He has his heart set on making his mark this time around – after boss Johnnie Jackson revealed he had been knocking on the door of the manager’s office asking for another opportunity.
Morgan said: “I want to cement my place. I want to play every week. I feel like I’m fit enough. I just love playing football. I just want to play as much as I can, when I can. Hopefully, I can keep building on that performance and keep getting minutes under my belt.
“I’d like to think [I’ve taken my chance]. I’ve been training hard every day. I’ve been trying to keep ticking over. Encouraging the boys but that little bit of selfishness inside means you want to play. Buzzing for them but inside you’re wanting to get on the pitch. Be involved and have an input. We had a chat and I’ve found my chance and hopefully I’ve taken it and he can see that I’m here, ready to play and want to have an input to the team.”
Morgan’s impressive display against the Cod Army was capped off with the goal that sealed victory late on – moments after he screwed a shot wide when in on goal. The goal was his first in an Addicks shirt since he netted in a 2-0 win over Ipswich Town at Portman Road in November 2020.
“Personally, I was a bit relieved [at full-time], especially after the one literally 30 seconds before,” he added.
“As a team I thought we were brilliant today, especially in the second-half. In the first-half it took us while to get going but once we got that first goal we settled the nerves because of the run of games, needing a win. Second-half we did well and got what we deserved.
“I said to a few of the boys that I felt like crying straight away, I was that angry and gutted [after the miss]. I’m never there and that one fell to me nice – I should have put it away. But to get the one after I was so relieved and happy because it’s been a while. Because of the one before I had it in my head to hit the target, so I’ve gone dead down the middle. Luckily, it’s gone in. you can tell by my celebration there was a lot of relief and I was buzzing with the goal.
“I think it was a wake-up call after the first-half. We went into half-time knowing, as a team, each individual knew what we needed to do and how we were going to break them down. We just needed to be more patient with the ball. We were going too direct, too quickly. Because they were sitting off us, we had a bit more time. We were so urgent to score but I think that’s where we need to be more calm and build up. That’s what we did in the second-half. We played more football which was better than being direct and we got the win.”
PHOTOS: KYLE ANDREWS