Lyle Taylor confident he can hit it off with Charlton Athletic strike partner Igor Vetokele

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Lyle Taylor is convinced that he can form an effective partnership with Igor Vetokele – claiming the only thing that hasn’t helped is a lack of minutes together on the pitch.

Charlton Athletic’s top-scorer notched his 13th goal of the campaign in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Portsmouth.

It was Taylor’s first time on the scoresheet since mid-January, although he has served a three-game ban in that period.

It was also the first time he had hit the back of the net since Karlan Grant was sold to Huddersfield Town at the end of the last transfer window.

Vetokele has come into the side with Addicks owner Roland Duchatelet blocking attempts to bring in free agent Joe Mason – insisting the Angolan international was a suitable replacement.

“Igor is a very, very talented footballer,” said Taylor. “The issue that we’ve had is that me and Karlan spent nearly every single minute playing together. There’s not been much time for anyone else to get a look-in and develop any kind of partnership.

“Me and Karlan didn’t click straight away. We scored goals straight away – but we didn’t click straight away. So, it’s going to take a few games – I think that’s only four starts with me and Igor together.

“We’ve played limited number of minutes together. We’ll continue to work on it. There are times today I’m looking for Igor and he’s there – the same as I was looking for Karlan before and he was there. That, to me, is promising.

“We’ll do everything we can to make sure that partnership bears fruit.”

Taylor is on nine bookings this campaign. If he can keep his nose clean against Burton on Tuesday night then he will not longer be at danger of a two-game suspension for 10 cautions.

Asked if that had changed his approach, he said: “Yes, I can’t go round kicking people, like I like to. 

“There were a couple of times on Saturday where it was tight. In the first half I was running and I’ve caught Evans’ ankle – their centre-half is screaming and shouting ‘ref, that’s a foul’. Yeah it is, but I’ve just been running and literally trod on his ankle.

“Luckily we had a good ref and he saw it for what it was.

“I’ve got one more to get through, so let’s not jinx it. I’ll be on my best behaviour and as Keith Peacock said today ‘just take deep breathes’.”