Charlton Athletic senior players set to be involved in development game against Hull City

Conor McGrandles is set to play an hour for Charlton’s U21s this afternoon – with manager Dean Holden set to be an interested spectator.

The summer signing from Lincoln City has yet to catch fire since arriving in SE7 and has been hampered by a succession of niggly injuries.

Centre-back Terell Thomas is also set to feature against Hull City at Dartford.

“He needs some minutes and sharpness into his legs,” Holden told the South London Press. “He came into the situation at Oxford due to one or two players who weren’t maybe able to start in that game.

“Deje Elerewe, Zach Mitchell and Tyreece Campbell will play. I’m really looking forward to the game. I went to the last one against Fulham and the boys played well.

“I’m looking forward to seeing some of the seniors coming back from injury and also some of our youngsters.”

Holden picked up his first win as Addicks boss last weekend, a 3-1 victory at Portsmouth.

Next up on Saturday is Lincoln at The Valley.

“The training ground has been bright and bubbly, as you’d expect,” said Holden. “There has been a really good atmosphere around the place – both from the players who were involved directly on the pitch and also the ones not involved.

“They have gained a real good togetherness, which I’ve been pleased with.

“We’re concentrating daily on our standards and on our culture. Last week at Portsmouth was a really good performance and a fantastic result – we can all take pride in that performance. But it is gone now, simple as that.

“I’m not even thinking about Lincoln. As members of staff we are briefing each other and looking with the analysts at Lincoln’s strengths and weaknesses but it is Thursday today and we’re dealing with today.

“We’re making sure today’s session is as good as it can be. We’ve got meetings with the back lads and forward players. We’re going to have a really bright session.

“We’ve brought it forwar slightly earlier than usual so we can get across to Dartford and get a look at the game this afternoon against Hull City because there are a couple of players involved, coming back from injury, who I want to see directly and I’m really excited about.

“Today is a big day, in terms of getting everything right and then we’ll roll into tomorrow’s session and get the prep right so we arrive at The Valley on Saturday with a really good training week off the back of a very good result at Portsmouth.

“That’s how I work – day to day. This is the constant message to the players, that we deal with what is in front of us. Don’t look back too far. Whenever there is something to fix, we address it in the right way and move forward quickly.”

MAIN PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD