“We deserved nothing” – Lee Bowyer pulls no punches on Charlton’s display at Derby County

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Lee Bowyer says his Charlton side got exactly what they deserved in tonight’s 2-1 loss to Derby County.

Goals from Jason Knight in each half secured victory for the Rams, who were down to 10 men early following Krystian Bielik’s dismissal.

Lyle Taylor’s penalty made it 2-1 in the closing stages, but Bowyer did not feel that added any gloss to the performance.

Bowyer said: “I’m disappointed. Derby had Krystian sent off early and in my eyes we should go on and win the game – and we don’t, for a number of reasons.

“We were poor in possession and didn’t create nothing – nothing at all. The first shot we had on target was the penalty. We got ourselves into so many good areas. We tried to work it and get the overload out wide but our crossing and final ball was poor all night long.

“The quality was very, very bad and defensively again we’ve conceded another two goals. Credit to Derby, they deserved to win tonight. We weren’t good enough. We got exactly what we deserved – which is nothing. If we’d got a late goal it would have been harsh.

“Does it come back to the amount of games we’re playing around this time and we have no-one to rotate? Maybe. But don’t get outbattled and outfought. We were second to everything tonight. If anything is our strength it is our fight and togetherness – tonight we didn’t do that.

“I don’t like seeing my team do that. We’ll be back in tomorrow and I’ll dust them down. We’ve got to go again.”

PHOTO BY SEAN GOSLING