Charlton Athletic boss Bowyer on Lyle Taylor hat-trick and Nicky Ajose’s impressive showing

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Charlton manager Lee Bowyer reckons Lyle Taylor’s superb third goal is a regular occurrence in training – but also wanted to focus on Nicky Ajose’s performance.

Taylor produced an excellent chip over Bobby Olejnik to walk away with the match ball.

But Bowyer was equally pleased with Ajose’s display. He produced two assists for Charlton’s top scorer before also getting in on the action as well as he finished off from close range.

“The third one, that’s just him,” said the Addicks chief. “His brilliance – he does that every week in training.

“You’ve got to praise Nicky for the first two he set up. How many times do we get into that situation and don’t make the right pass or right decision? It is the best game Nicky has had for us since I’ve been in charge.

“He ran in behind, he fought and chased the ball down.

“He did everything properly today for me, then he got rewarded with his goal.

“I’m over the moon for Lyle but there are a lot of other positives to come out of tonight. Patrick Bauer got an hour into him. Billy Clarke got another 70 minutes or so.

“I’d like to think I’m fair. I said they were a good team. It wasn’t a 5-0 result for me. They could have scored three or four. They missed some chances.

“Yeah be happy, I’m happy – but don’t get too ahead of yourself because trust me, on the night it wasn’t that result.”