BOWYER: NO EXCUSES, WE WERE POOR
LEE BOWYER branded his Charlton side’s display “not good enough” and was disappointed with their lack of fight as Ian Henderson’s 99th goal for Rochdale earned the home team victory.
“It wasn’t good enough,” said Bowyer. “In the first half we didn’t compete, didn’t pass the ball – everything we’re good at we didn’t do.
“You can’t turn up and just expect to be handed three points, that’s just not football.”
The home side were fast out of the blocks and took the lead in the fourth minute when Stephen Dooley’s square pass found Henderson and the Dale skipper slammed home a low drive from 10 yards.
Charlton hit back with Lyle Taylor going close to an equaliser, collecting the ball in the centre circle, advancing towards goal and striking a shot from 18 yards that skimmed the top of Brendan Moore’s crossbar.
The Addicks were handed a lifeline after 18 minutes when Moore crashed into Darren Pratley, referee Andy Haines awarding a penalty to the visitors. But the goalkeeper quickly made amends, diving to his right to palm clear Taylor’s spot-kick and preserve Dale’s slender lead.
In the second half, Josh Cullen’s 25-yard drive looked destined for the roof of the net until Moore pushed his shot against a post. And Cullen was frustrated again when his direct free-kick beat Moore and found the back of the net – only to be ruled out for an infringement by Taylor.
But Bowyer was not looking for excuses. “I’ve not seen the goal we had disallowed again, but to be honest that doesn’t matter,” he said.
“We had a penalty saved, we’ve hit the bar and the keeper has made a great save from Josh Cullen, but we still didn’t do the right things so it’s all irrelevant, the other stuff, it’s about what you do.
“The way we performed in the second half was slightly better, but still not good enough.”
On balance boss Keith Hill felt they deserved the points.
“I think it was a good League One performance, there was a lot of courage in it against an excellent side,” he said. “We created goalscoring opportunities and we did well to defend our goal, so I’m relatively pleased. “Charlton are a very good side represented by a very good manager so it was a stern test, but on reflection I think we just about deserved it. “I was a little bit perturbed by some of the decisions the referee made, but I thought it was a genuine, hard-working performance from us. “We could have been slightly better in possession, our full-backs should have slowed the game down a little bit more, but it’s a 1-0 win at home and we’re getting points on the board.”