Garner looks ahead to Shrewsbury trip

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Ben Garner wants to see his side continue their climb up the Sky Bet League One table at Shrewsbury Town on Saturday.

The Addicks travel to Shropshire full of confidence having earned back-to-back victories for the first time this season following Valley victories against Exeter City and Portsmouth.

Looking back to Monday’s eye-catching display against Pompey, the manager said: “To a man we were fantastic. It was a really good team performance across the board. I think everyone can see how hard the group is working for each other and the effort that is being put in. 

“We played some fantastic football, we looked a threat and a bonus to score from another couple of set pieces. All in all it was a really complete performance, two wins from two and obviously we’re now looking to make it three from three.”

Asked about the fitness of forward Jes Rak-Sakyi, who was withdrawn on 71 minutes against Portsmouth, Garner said: “Jes is fine. As we were three-nil up it was an opportunity to give him a little bit of a rest ahead of Saturday. 

“We’ve just got one minor injury which is going to keep a player out for tomorrow, but hopefully not much longer than that,” added the boss. “It’s going to be days rather than weeks and months, but unfortunately it looks like he’ll miss tomorrow.”

The Addicks face a Shrewsbury side who currently sit eighth in Sky Bet League One having also enjoyed successive league triumphs.

“We’ve spoken about hunting down teams above us now and we want to get up the table,” Garner explained. “Saturday is an opportunity for us to beat a team above us in the league and go above them and that’s what we’re looking to do. 

“Shrewsbury are in good form, they have a really experienced manager in Steve [Cotterill] and they are very, very well-organised. They sit in a very deep defensive block, they make it hard for teams to go through them, they defend their goalframe well and then they look to counter and give teams problems off of that shape. 

“We’re well aware of their strengths and how they play and what a difficult challenge that’s going to be, but we’re also very optimistic that we can go there and win the game.”

The in-form Addicks host MK Dons at The Valley on Tuesday. Click here to purchase your tickets.

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