ROBINS ANNOY GRINCH BOWYER

LEE BOWYER was in anything but a festive mood despite seeing his Charlton side climb up to fourth spot following their win over Gillingham.

Ben Reeves set the hosts on their way to a third consecutive league success by firing Bowyer’s men in front after just six minutes.

And the points were effectively wrapped up six minutes before the interval by Tariqe Fosu-Henry’s spectacular long-range strike.

But even though the Robins were rarely troubled by the visitors, the manager wasn’t impressed by his own side.

Bowyer said: “I would probably say that is the worst we’ve played for a while.

“We were scrappy at times. We gave the ball away sloppily and that isn’t like us.

“We’ve got three points and moved up another place so it is a good day, but it is just I know what they are capable of and it just disappoints me at times.

“I’m not disappointed but it just gives me the hump when they don’t do it properly at times.”

Gillingham manager Steve Lovell agreed with Bowyer’s assessment and put that down to his own side’s display.

He said: “I think the reasons they didn’t reach their levels is because of the way we played.

“Everybody out there can see the possession we had, the amount of crosses we got in the box was a lot more than they did.

“So perhaps I see it differently, but I think that is the way it was.”

Addicks keeper Jed Steer survived an early scare after dropping Darren Oldakar’s free-kick and spilling the ball to Connor Ogilvie, whose effort hit the outside of a post.

But the home fans’ nerves were settled in the sixth minute when Fosu-Henry’s clever low pass picked out an unmarked Reeves in the box and he coolly slotted home.

The advantage was almost doubled on the quarter hour as the lively Fosu-Henry hit the woodwork before Ogilvie hacked clear.

Brandan Hanlan was perhaps unfortunate to glance a header off target from Ogilvie’s delivery, but the Gills had Tomas Holy to thank for using his leg to deny Reeves a second goal.

However, there was nothing he could do to prevent Fosu-Henry’s stunning strike from outside the box flying into the top corner six minutes before the break.

Hanlan almost had Gillingham right back in contention within a minute of the second half starting, placing a header agonisingly wide from a corner. But Charlton never looked seriously troubled after that as they maintained their promotion push in what ultimately was a straightforward home success.

CHARLTON ATHLETIC: Steer 7, Dijksteel 7, Bauer 6, Pearce 7, Solly 7, Fosu-Henry 9 (Marshall 90, 6), Bielik 7, Aribo 6 (Pratley 73, 6), Reeves 7, Ajose 7, Taylor 7 (Hackett-Fairchild 79, 6). Subs not used: Phillips, Morgan, Stevenson, Sarpeng-Wiredu.

GILLINGHAM: Holy 6, Fuller 6 (O’Neill 66, 6), Lacey 6, Zakuani 6, Ogilvie 6, Oldaker 6 (Reilly 45, 6), Byrne 6, Parrett 6, List 6, Hanlan 6 Charles-Cook 71, 6), Parker 6. Subs not used: Garmston, Bingham, Rees, Hadler.