Lee Bowyer was satisfied with the run-out his side got against Dulwich Hamlet at the KNK Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Goals from Lyle Taylor – his third in Charlton colours – and Jake Forster-Caskey ensured that they came away with a 2-1 victory against the National League South club.
Bowyer played an XI for 60 minutes before completely changing his outfield team for the final half an hour and afterwards he said he was pleased with the way his team performed.
“The score-line wasn’t important,” the caretaker boss said. “Obviously, it is nice to get into a routine of winning but the most important thing for me was that we didn’t pick up any injuries on a difficult pitch.
“Lyle got another goal and he and Karlan looked sharp up front. Karlan gives us something a bit different; for the second goal, there aren’t really many players who can go past people at that pace. Lyle holds the ball up well and we need people to be making more runs off of him ahead of Sunderland.
“We haven’t really gone into tactics yet and all I’m asking of the players is for them to do the right things; to pass it well and move the ball quickly.
“I want movement and for them to press because that helps to get their fitness up. After Saturday, we’ll start to get more of an idea of things and the lads have got three games to really stake a claim for that first game at Sunderland.”
Bowyer was asked about potential new signings after the game, to which he replied.
He said: “We’ve just got to be patient. The two that have come in are very good signings and, as I’ve said before, we’re probably a couple of pieces short of a good ‘puzzle’.
“We have to hand pick now and choose carefully who we want because we want specific players. There’s no point bringing in players that aren't as good or better than the players we’ve got already.”
One player who Bowyer has recently added to his squad is Darren Pratley, who put pen to paper on a two-year deal on Tuesday morning.
The former Bolton Wanderers and Swansea City man wasn’t involved against Dulwich but Bowyer said that he hopes to give him as many minutes as possible during pre-season.
He said: “Darren is in good shape. It’s just the football, he’s going to be rusty with the ball, so he won’t be playing against Sunderland. He’s got to catch up and get himself ready.
“There’s no point chucking him in the deep end and getting him injured at Sunderland. He won’t start against Sunderland but we will try to get him as many minutes as possible during pre-season.
“I want to chuck him in and amongst the lads as soon as possible. Saturday is probably too soon but he might get some minutes on Tuesday.”