Garner sees promising signs in Swansea clash

Ben Garner at The Valley

Ben Garner saw promising signs from his side at The Valley on Saturday as the Addicks concluded their pre-season campaign with an encouraging showing against Swansea City.

Charlton raced into an early lead courtesy of a Harry Darling own goal before goals from Joel Piroe and substitute Ryan Manning completed the Swans' turnaround in the second period.

"I thought it was an excellent game with two really good teams," the Manager told CharltonTV post-match. "The way the game was played was enjoyable. Tactically it was a challenging game in terms of what they do and how they move the ball, and I thought we dealt with that really well overall. We got the minutes we wanted so it was a really positive afternoon.

"The amount of opportunities we created, the way we pressed first half, the energy we showed, the positions we got into and the threat we posed - it's really, really promising signs."

Garner reserved particular praise for Joe Wollacott and Albie Morgan, both of whom starred for the Addicks.

"He's a fantastic goalkeeper," said the boss. "You're not the Ghanaian number one if you're not a good goalkeeper. He's done fantastically well and he was outstanding today. That will give him a great deal of confidence. It gave the opportunity for supporters here today and ones that have watched it to see what he's about and it was a really, really pleasing performance.

"Albie has done great over pre-season, he really has," he added. "He's at that stage now where I think he needs to go to the next level in his game. He's come through the academy here but he now needs to show that he's an established member of the first team and stake his case for a regular spot during his season."

Asked about selection headaches ahead of next Saturday's season-opener at Accrington Stanley, Garner said: "We look pretty strong. I'm happy with it overall. I'd still like to get one or two more in, I think we can strengthen in certain areas. We might have to balance the books a little bit to allow us to do that, so we've got to make decisions on that.

"But as a group from day one of pre-season through until now they've done great, they really have," he continued. "I can't speak highly enough of them as a group at the moment. We now need to take that into the season. Hopefully, we can off to get a good start and get some momentum early."
 

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