Powell keen to build on Watford success in vital month for Charlton
12:34pm Wednesday 2nd January 2013 in Latest Sport By George Jones
CHRIS Powell heaped the praise on his Charlton side after they grabbed their fifth away win of the season at Watford on New Year’s Day.
The Addicks were previously on a seven-match winless run and had only ended three-game losing streak on Saturday with a 1-1 draw against Derby.
Powell’s men fell behind early on before fighting back to win, a similar scenario to when Charlton defeated Cardiff 5-4 in their last high-scoring game – a result which triggered a seven-game unbeaten run.
And the Addicks boss is hoping Tuesday’s result at Vicarage Road might be the catalyst for another unbeaten streak.
He said: “We’ve got Blackpool, Blackburn and Sheffield Wednesday in the league programme for the rest of the month and it’s vital for us to make sure we’re right and ready for those games.
“We just need those points because it’s so tight.
“I know exactly what it’s like.
“On any given day you can play any side and get a positive result and on another day it might not go for you, so I’m hoping we can have a real positive outlook for the rest of the campaign, especially this month.
“We had a terrific November and then we didn’t win a game in December and obviously the pressure was on.
“You need to win games and pick up points.
“The games come thick and fast, as they have done over the Christmas period, and people can doubt players and the group of players at times.
“But I never do, I see them every day, I know they really want to do well and I just felt today had been coming.”
Powell added: “I set up in a different way today.
“I looked at the tactics and Watford, to their credit, had been on an exceptional run recently.
“So I just felt that if we could give ourselves a foot hold in the game.
“We obviously didn’t do that because we went 1-0 down, but I felt out general play and approach play was very good.
“We just needed to keep believing in that and we did.
“I think the key was our response after going 3-2 down and we got that (to make it 3-3).
“Then Johnnie Jackson got the winner and I’m really pleased for him because he’s my captain and you always want your captain to come to the fore and he did that today.
“We needed a result.
“I knew that they were a decent team I watched the videos and saw them on Sky the other day, where teams were letting them play.
“When you give them time and space, any team in this league, especially Watford recently on the good run they’ve had, they’ll get at you.
“I just felt with Yann, Ricardo and Lawrie Wilson we could affect their three centre halves so they couldn’t get out and then they kicked long and we were in a good position to lock in.
“We got the tactics right.
“Obviously it didn’t get us a clean sheet but overall it got a win and I’m really pleased for everyone.”
Charlton have had their fair share of injury problems all season and Tuesday’s clash was no different with Leon Cort and Wilson both limping off late on.
Decision making and tactical changes proved difficult for Powell on an afternoon where his players began to drop like flies.
Afterwards the Addicks chief admitted with the Championship being such an incident pack league it is tough to keep on top of everything. “So many things can happen,” said Powell.
“We were about to make a change and then Lawrie Wilson broke his nose and he had to come straight off, so I had to adjust to that.
“Then we lose Leon Cort just as we’re about to bring on Matt Taylor to do something else.
“He comes on and then I say to Yann ‘just go and attack the ball, go and do a job for the team’.
“That’s the nature of the group, they will help one another, do jobs they’re maybe not detailed to do but I felt some of our football today was very good.
“I felt Ricardo Fuller, who had been out for a while, got stronger as the game went on and created the third goal.
“We’ve got players like Cedric Evina coming in who did an excellent job.
“We created a lot of good openings, which I’m pleased about.
“I’ve been saying we need to start creating more chances to give ourselves a chance to win games.
“This Championship is crazy.
“We had three defeats and things were looking bleak but now we have got two positive results, four points from two games and now we can approach January after the cup game, because for me it’s all about the league.
“It would be nice for this club to have a run for a change, but I’m really pleased that we’ve kicked off our league campaign in 2013 with a win.”
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