Charlton Athletic turned in a lethargic performance at Ebbsfleet on Tuesday evening, as they slumped to a 2-1 defeat.
The hosts scored either side of the interval – the first a hotly disputed penalty – before Brendan Sarpong-Wiredu halved the arrears with a crisp finish late on.
Lee Bowyer admitted his team were disappointing:
”It was not good enough. The result was not important but I don’t like losing. It’s just the way we didn’t pass the ball, kicking the ball out of play, taking too many touches.”
“It’s just not what I’m used to seeing but we’ve got a long way to go before we start the season so I’m not worried, it just disappoints me.”
“We worked really hard yesterday, maybe I take a bit of blame for that but it’s pre-season so we did extra running yesterday, maybe that’s why they were a bit fatigued as that’s not like us at all.”
The game turned on that highly dubious penalty. Understandably, Bowyer did not think it should have been given:
“It wasn’t a penalty obviously, the result is not important. They went 2-0 up and I thought they deserved it as well. I thought they were better than us.
“They outfought us, which again teams don’t normally do to us. We had a lot of youngsters out there, so it’s difficult for them physically, so not a lot of plusses today.”
The Addicks’ build up play was ponderous, and they rarely threatened to open Ebbsfleet up. Chuks Aneke was the main danger to the hosts:
“We weren’t passing it forward. Our first thought was always to go backwards, I don’t get it.
“That’s not what we practice every day. We practice one and two touch, play around the corner into your front men and into your 10. I thought Chuks did well in possession once he received it, but we took far, far too long to get it in to him.
“We were a bit negative in possession, I don’t know why, they are good players but hey ho, we’ve got another one tomorrow.”
Bowyer’s team are in action again this evening at Dagenham &. Redbridge.
Charlton: Amos (Phillips 60); Dijksteel (Lockyer 60), Pratley (Pearce 60), Purrington (Sarr 60); Solly (Sarpong-Wiredu 60), Doughty (Page 60), Forster-Caskey (Maloney, 60), Morgan (Odoh 60), Lapslie (Quitirna 60), Aneke (Harriott 60); Taylor (Bonne 60).
Subs (not used): Harness, Powell, Dempsey, Yao
Goal: Sarpong-Wiredu 89.
Ebbsfleet: Ashmore; King, Thomas (Weston, 55), Lawless, Obileye (Trialist B, 58), Grimes, Ball (Dankieh, 58), Wilson (Anderson, 75), Goddard, Shields, Trialist A (Ugwu, 63).
Goals: Obileye 43 (pen), Trialist A 56.
Referee: Michael Ryan