Rob on return
After over a month on the sidelines, Rob Elliot was delighted to return to first-team action with a clean sheet in Charlton's first away win since August at Brighton & Hove Albion on Tuesday night.
An adductor injury suffered in the 1-1 draw at Gillingham in October saw Elliot sit out six games for the Addicks, with Phil Parkinson bringing in Carl Ikeme on an emergency loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Ikeme has since departed SE7, and the fit-again Elliot was back in action at a cold Withdean Stadium to help Charlton record a valuable victory - not to mention their first blank sheet since the 0-0 draw with Oldham Athletic at The Valley.
"It was good to get back out there,” said Elliot afterwards. "It was one of those where I probably could have played each week, but Carl was here and the gaffer said 'don't risk it for one game or you might be out for another two months' so I took it easy and I feel better for it tonight.”
He continued: "It's difficult to come straight back in - there was a reserve game at our training ground last week but I was ill unfortunately with one of those 24-hour bugs and missed that, so I didn't have any games before tonight.
"When you've got experienced people like Sam Sodje and Christian Dailly in front of you it makes it a little easier, and it was a good victory."
The less-than-salubrious surroundings of Brighton's Withdean was the scene for Elliot's return and he enjoyed a relatively untroubled night as Charlton maintained their recent good run.
Reflecting on the welcome three points, Elliot mused: "The conditions weren't too bad. It was a bit windy in the first half and the pitch wasn't amazing, but you've just got to deal with that in away games and I felt that we did really well. We broke up their play and played some good stuff ourselves.
"No disrespect to Brighton, but with the state of their stadium, it's not an ideal location to come to. I thought we rose to it really well, though; we fought off their challenge and we let our football do the talking."
Charlton have now gained the same number of points after 19 games as they earned over the whole of last season's Championship campaign, and Elliot believes the Addicks are well set for a prolonged promotion drive this term.
"It's not all about playing perfect football, you've got to play the perfect game," stated Elliot. "You have to adapt to the conditions and I think that we did that well tonight.
"I think we're starting to get a bit of grit and determination about us and I've noticed the difference between us this year and last year is that we don't give in.
"Tonight typified the fact that it wasn't our greatest performance on the football side, but we did what we had to do and we punished them when we got our chances."
Elliot was handed a harsh yellow card against the Seagulls after referee Gavin Ward booked the Greenwich-born ace for time-wasting.
It came just seconds after Elliot had been floored by a Brighton striker, which saw Charlton awarded a free-kick, and takes his yellow card tally for the season to two.
"I wasn't happy with it as it's put me on another booking and as a keeper you've got to be careful," said Rob.
"I even said to the referee that I just wanted to go and put some water on my head because I took a bit of a whack from a decent elbow to the head, and the irony is that I didn't ask for the physio to come on as it would waste time. Then he booked me for time-wasting! I think the referee was poor; I know they've got difficult jobs but they've got to be consistent."
During Elliot's absence, Parkinson had to decide between fielding Ikeme or Darren Randolph between the sticks, with the Wolves man getting the nod for all but the FA Cup tie at Northwich Victoria when he wasn't allowed to play under the terms of his loan switch.
"It's obviously a difficult decision when you've got one fit keeper left at the club," Elliot stated. "Darren's a good goalkeeper and obviously Carl is as well, so the gaffer picking Carl is one of those difficult decisions that managers have to make.
"But Carl did well for us and Darren did extremely well in the FA Cup game, so it was a difficult situation."
Privacy Policy | Contact Us | Directions | © Charlton Athletic 2010
