Bowyer: We are aiming to finish in top two

Lee Bowyer is targeting automatic promotion with Charlton Athletic this season and believes they are capable of going on a long winning run.

Sunderland, third in League One, drew 1-1 with Bowyer’s Charlton at The Valley on Saturday, Luke O’Nien’s second minute volley cancelled out by a Reece James own goal five minutes into the second half.

It was a fiercely competitive game, with Sunderland having to battle hard to withstand a steady stream of second half pressure from a Charlton side missing eight players through injury.

Proud Bowyer, a former Newcastle United midfielder, said: “I still b e lieve now we will finish top two.

“I still do because now we are only going to get stronger, we will probably bring in another couple of players through the window, we will get stronger as more players come back.

“There is nothing to stop us winning the next six, seven, eight, 10 games. Nothing.

“I believe in them, we have been on runs before and believe we will do it again.

“We’ve done that [on Saturday] with a weakened side again. It just shows you, if we can get a few more bodies back then we’ve got a very good chance on going on a very good run.”

Former Sunderland midfielder Jonny Williams joined Charlton on a short-term permanent deal on Friday and he made his debut as a 68th minute sub on Saturday.

On his debut, Bowyer said: “That’s tough coming off the bench and trying to keep up with the speed of the game, the intensity out there was very high.

“I know, I’ve come off the bench before but I thought he was very good. You can see Jonny has got quality.

“I didn’t think it would be fair on him or the other lads, after the good result on Tuesday, to chuck him in there after just one training session.

“It wouldn’t have been fair but you saw glimpses of what he is going to bring to us and his end product is very good.

“I’m looking forward to it once he gets going and realises and understands how we play.”