Charlton’s Ben Purrington on his second goal in as many games – although they were 53 days apart

BY LOUIS MENDEZ

Ben Purrington grabbed his second goal in as many games at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday – although there was a 53-day between the two strikes.

The Charlton left-sided defender scored a vital leveller in the League One play-off final against Sunderland at Wembley Stadium back in May, before breaking the deadlock for the Addicks during their hard-fought 2-1 season opening victory at Ewood Park over the weekend.

“We can class it as two in two,” joked the 23-year-old.

“It’s been a while since the last one with pre-season! What a win today. The lads dug in after going 2-1 up. We had to sit in a little bit, the game changed, but there’s no better feeling than that. First game of the season, three points, unreal.

“You saw we had to dig in right until the last kick of the game. The changing room was buzzing in there. We’d work all pre-season towards this and it paid off today.

“You know Jonny Williams has got quality. As soon as I saw him with the ball there and coming in you’re thinking pick me out. He put one on a plate for me last season at Gillingham and I should have scored. He’s done the same today and I’ve scored. Fair play to him, it was a good passage of play. I need to get forward a bit more, to be honest.”

Purrington operated as a left-wing-back in Lancashire, a role he played a few times towards the end of last season as well. It affords him more license to go forward – a task he’s happy to fulfil.

“I’ve always seen myself as a left-back but you need to be able to adapt into the other positions,” he said.

“Adam Armstrong was a threat for them so at times I had to sit back so the three centre-halves could deal with the strikers. It was one of those were I had to pick and choose when I could go but luckily enough it was right place at the right time to get the goal.”

PHOTOS BY KYLE ANDREWS