Charlton Athletic boss answers why defender has not been in last two matchday squads

Ben Garner says that Sam Lavelle’s absence from Charlton’s last two matches is purely down to the way he wanted to set up his bench options.

The former Morecambe centre-back has not featured in the matchday 18 since the 1-1 draw with Oxford United. The 26-year-old was substituted at the half-time interval.

“It’s just been team selection over the last couple of weeks,” Garner told the South London Press. “We had Terell Thomas on the bench at Lincoln.

“But, on Tuesday night, I just wanted to go really attacking bench and, if possible, have five options who could change the game if we needed to. It was purely that. We did need a number of those. Sean [Clare] came on and so did Albie [Morgan], Corey [Blackett-Taylor], Jack Payne and Chuks [Aneke]. They all had an impact. It was important to have those options. It was a little bit of a risk, only having the one defender on the bench, but it was a calculated risk on Tuesday.

“We’ll assess what we do now on Monday.”

PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD