Speaking after the Addicks’ 6-0 routing of Plymouth Argyle on Tuesday night, Alex Gilbey touched on his revitalisation under Nigel Adkins, Charlton’s return to the top six and looked ahead to the Peterborough United clash this weekend.
Gilbey, who arrived in SE7 last summer from MK Dons with back-to-back player of the season accolades, is enjoying a new lease of life under new manager Adkins and now has two goals in his last three.
“It was a real top performance tonight,” he told CharltonTV. “We have sent a statement out. We’re just buzzing now. I’m buzzing to get another goal. I’m loving my football at the minute.
“Since the new gaffer’s come in, he’s put a lot of faith in me and I’m just trying to repay him that faith. He just said to me: ‘Listen, go out and do what you can do, and show people how good you are as a player.’ The gaffer has given me license to bomb forward and obviously try and score goals, and that’s what I’m doing so long may it continue.”
The 26-year-old swept home Charlton’s fourth of the night with aplomb after latching onto Jayden Stockley’s well-weighted pass, something Gilbey admits the pair have had in the making on the training ground.
“I just saw the space open up on the left and I thought: ‘I’m going to try and get forward’. I’ve been on Jayden [Stockley] for a while now to try and set me up and he finally has which is good! I just thought: ‘try and hit it low and into the ground’ and thankfully it came off.”
The result moved Adkins’ Addicks back into the final play-off spot in style and stretched the League One unbeaten run to 10 games ahead of Peterborough’s visit to The Valley this weekend.
“The lads are on cloud nine, but I don’t think we can get too carried away at the minute. We’ve just got to keep our feet on the ground and keep pushing on. Saturday’s another big game. This club shouldn’t be messing about, we should be in the play-offs and that’s what our aim is. It’s in our hands at the moment.
“Obviously Peterborough are up there, but we’ve just put six past Plymouth who aren’t a bad side. We’re in a really good place at the minute.”
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(Article by James Waller)