Ben Garner tells supporters his Charlton side will stick to their beliefs after ‘positive’ pre-season display against Swansea

Charlton fans got a first Valley glimpse of what to expect from a Ben Garner’s Addicks side on Saturday – and the new boss has said they should get used to what they saw during the pre-season friendly against Swansea.

The Championship Swans edged an entertaining affair thanks to a late winner from former QPR man Ryan Manning. Joel Piroe had brought the visitors back onto level terms early in the second-half after a bizarre own-goal from Harry Darling had given the South Londoners a lead inside five minutes.

Garner’s side looked to try and play a possession-based game and the former Swindon boss has said his team will stick to their principles as the season progresses.

He explained: “There were a couple of people shouting, ‘forward, forward!’ behind me. They might want to move seats because we will play with an identity and stick to our beliefs. It will come good if you get behind the players and support them.

“They’ll need that, that bravery, that courage on the ball. If you look at how much we created today against a really strong Championship team, that’s a good sign moving forwards.

“All the way through pre-season, results haven’t mattered one bit to me. We’re looking at performances, fitness levels and the principles of play that we’ve been working on so hard in training. There were great signs of that today and last night [during a 3-0 win against Welling United].

The opening goal came as Charlton penned their opponents in from their own goal kick, forcing Darling into the error. Garner felt it was a good example of that he wants his side to achieve by pressing high up the pitch.

He added: “Pressed really well in the opening stage of the game, really good tactically and with the intensity of it. There’s a clear improvement we need to make when we do win it. With the positions we got into and the chances we created I would have expected more goals. But that’s not a concern at this stage, it’s a positive in terms of the amount we created today.

“Really positive, overall. I thought it was a fantastic game, two teams trying to play the right way and with a clear identity. For a pre-season friendly there was a really good level to it. Really pleased with the overall performance. Hit the targets we wanted to in terms of minutes. It’s been a really good week.”

PHOTOS: KEITH GILLARD