Macaulay Gillesphey admits he doesn’t practice free-kicks often after set-piece winner against Barnsley
Charlton Athletic match winner Macaulay Gillesphey admitted he doesn’t practice set-pieces often after curling home a free-kick to beat Barnsley on Tuesday evening.
The 29-year-old centre-half grabbed his second goal in as many games as he caught the Tykes’ goalkeeper Jackson Smith out with a low, curling left-footed effort.
That took his tally for the campaign up to four, his highest ever return in a league season.
On his goal, Gillesphey said: “It’s been a long time coming that one. Bez [Luke Berry] has taken the last probably 10 free kicks and I said: ‘I fancy this one today.’
“Thankfully it’s crept in. To be honest, I don’t actually practice free kicks very often. I’m usually just a decoy for Bez, but like I said today, I fancied it, so I just took it.
“The low ones are quite hard for the keeper, they can’t really see it. He always sees it late and it took a bit of deflection as well, which helped along the way.”
The South Londoners were able to claim all three points after registering a 15th clean sheet of the League One season – with Gillesphey admitting the shut out meant even more to him than his goal.
“Clean sheet’s the one for us defenders,” he added, after Charlton climbed to fifth in the table.
“[Barnsley are] a good side, dangerous going forward, but we were excellent today as a team, pressing and defending as a team, we were excellent.
“We’ve just got to believe in ourselves and just keep plugging away and getting good results. Another big game Saturday [at fourth-placed Stockport County]. Just keep them coming, try and get results.”
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