Charlton midfielder Luke Berry has said his side are taking things one game at a time but want to push expectations to compete at the summit of League One, following their 2-0 victory over Stevenage yesterday.
Berry scored quickly after the half-time break to double Charlton’s advantage, after Matty Godden opened the scoring at the end of the first period.
The win took the Addicks into the play-off positions and extended their undefeated streak in the league to five games.
“It was a really positive performance,” said Berry. “In the first half we were giving it a good go, but we just needed to calm down and settle in the final third to make our opportunities. In the second half we did that. We settled down and we played some really good stuff, probably some of the best stuff we played this season at home.
“We are such a young and eager group that we just want to keep running around frantically, but sometimes we just need to calm down and play our stuff – and we did.
“In the end it was Matty with a lovely little finish front post, it is what he does, and that just sort of settled us down. In the second half we kicked on. It could have been three, four or five goals in the end, but we are just really happy with how we played.”
Berry appreciated the significance of going into the play-off spots for team morale, but emphasised the importance of not getting carried away midway through the season.
Charlton Athletic v Stevenage SkyBet League One The Valley, 08 February 2025 Picture : Keith Gillard
“It’s nice to be in that position,” said Berry. “But it does not really mean anything yet until we get to the end of the season and we’re in there. We can always look up, we can try and get top four, top two, we can push it, there is no harm in pushing boundaries.
“We have done nothing yet, we just need to keep believing. We have got Peterborough next game, we will see if we can get three points there, and then Birmingham.
“We have got a young group. A lot of these boys have not felt that momentum here for a while. So it is good to be positive, but the main thing is to just stay grounded. We need to win the next game and the next game, that is how we need to approach it.
“That is the good thing about this group, there is no fear there, we feel like every single team we come up against we can beat.”
Berry attributes Charlton’s impressive boost in form of late to the squad finally ‘clicking.’
Berry said: “It takes time sometimes to learn who you are playing with. I was at Luton for a long time. I was used to who I was playing with, so I have had to learn what people’s strengths are and that is a lot of my game, working off other people.
“When you are playing, sometimes you need to feel it in a game. There was one Northampton game where it really sort of clicked for a lot of the boys that ‘this is it, this is how we should be playing’ and since then we’ve shown that.”
