They say good things come in threes, but the season of goodwill did not extend quite that far for the fans.
A very young and inexperienced team went down to a solitary goal at Swansea on Thursday evening, but here were plenty of positives for manager Bowyer to take from the game:
“I’m proud of my players, We lost, I hate losing but they can’t do anymore than what they just did out there.
“I feel bad, they’ve given everything. All of those youngsters, they are a credit, a credit to our academy because they’ve just gone out there and played against some top players.
“There are players in that Swansea side that are top players and the kids were fearless. They didn’t hide, they got on the ball, they tried to make the right decisions.”
“I think second half we took the game to them. I felt we were the better side second half, we created some good chances.
“On another day we could have perhaps won the game. Over the 90 minutes I thought we had some very good chances from set-pieces, some free headers we had and in open play, we moved the ball well and created problems for them.”
“The experienced players helped them through it, the Pratleys, the Pearces, a few warriors helped them through. As a group I’m really pleased with the players.
“Obviously these lads, in an ideal world they’d be out on loan and they were out on loan, playing non-league, they were a few months ago.
“We’ve had to recall them and now they are getting experience with us. They’re getting that opportunity and they are grabbing it. They’ve done the football club proud. I’m proud of them,” concluded Bowyer.
Charlton: Phillips; Matthews, Lockyer, Pearce, Purrington (Sarr 87); Pratley, Morgan (Vennings 71), Gallagher, Dempsey; Taylor (Doughty 46), Davison.
Subs (not used): Maynard-Brewer, Solly, Oshilaja, Ledley,
Booked: Morgan 22 (foul), Pearce 45 (foul), Pratley 51 (foul).
Swansea: Woodman; Roberts, Cabango, van der Hoorn (Wilmot 58), Naughton; Byers, Dhanda, Grimes, Routledge; Baston (Fulton 86), Ayew.
Subs (not used): Nordfeldt, John, McKay, Kalulu,
Goal: Dhanda 14.
Booked: Naughton 2 (foul).
Referee: Peter Bankes
Attn: 15,352 (Charlton 525)