There were goal mouth scrambles, and one driven cross from Toby Stevenson narrowly eluded Lyle Taylor.
Bowyer will be without Chris Solly for Walsall’s trip to The Valley on New Year’s Day – the full-back was sent-off deep in stoppage time for a second bookable offence.
Jason Pearce must also be a major doubt for the New Year’s Day clash. The skipper picked up an ankle knock towards the end of the first-half, and eventually hobbled off midway through the second period.
Not the result Bowyer wanted, and his team were on the back foot for large periods of the game, but his players gave their all for the cause.
Here are Bowyer’s post match thoughts:
“I feel for them (the players) because I don’t think we deserved to leave with nothing.
“We’ve come to a top side and we deserved something, for me, because of the effort we put in.
“First half, they scored two unstoppable strikes and that is all it was. Apart from the goals, I think Jed made one more save and other than that we had control of the possession.
“Second half, we scored and I feel sorry for the lads because they’ve given me everything again. We’re down to the bare bones and it’s hard for them.
“We haven’t got the luxury of rotating two or three or four players. It’s unfortunate at the moment and Pearcey has had to come off injured and Chris Solly has got a second yellow card, which I thought was harsh, as well.”
The manager gave this update on Pearce’s injury:
“He’s done something to his ankle and I know for a fact that if Pearcey can play then he plays.
“He’s our captain, he’s our leader and he didn’t want to come off.
“He was half going to let us down if he stayed on because if someone got one-v-one with him then he wouldn’t have been able to stop them.
“It was the right decision to bring him off and hopefully he will recover for the next game.”
Charlton: Steer, Dijksteel, Bauer, Pearce (Stevenson 65), Solly; Bielik, Pratley (Fosu 60), Marshall (Hackett-Fairchild 81), Reeves;Taylor, Grant.
Subs (not used): Phillips, Sarpong-Wiredu, Morgan, Ajose.
Goal: Reeves 73.
Booked: Pearce 62 (foul), Solly 64 (foul), Dijksteel 80 (foul).
Sent off: Solly 90 (foul, second bookable offence).
Barnsley: Davies; Cavaré, Pinnock, Lindsay, Mowatt; Potts (Dougall 77), Pinillos, McGeehan, Thiam (Hedges 87); Woodrow, Bahre (Brown 70).
Subs (not used): Greatorex, Moncur, Jackson, Adeboyejo.
Goals: Potts 9, Thiam 14.
Booked: Pinnock 9 (foul), Cavaré 51 (foul on Marshall), Pinillos 72 (dissent), Woodrow 73 (dissent), Mowatt 90 (timewasting).
Referee: Darren Bond (Lancashire).
Attn: 11,978 (564 Charlton).