Adkins: "What’s in our hands is to try and win a game of football"

Nigel Adkins insists his side are ready to give their all on Sunday when Charlton host champions Hull City in a crunch final day clash. 

The Addicks remain in hot pursuit of the final play-off spot and know that victory against Grant McCann’s side, coupled with favourable results elsewhere at both Portsmouth and Oxford United, will see Adkins’ men claim a top-six finish.

“What’s in our hands tomorrow is to try and win a game of football,” explained Adkins. “Control the controllables. We’re going to go out to try and keep improving on what we’ve been doing. We had a good debrief the other day and a good meeting again this morning. 

“The lads have worked well on the training ground. We’re striving to improve on everything we do. The object is the champions are coming to town and it’s win a game of football, and then we’ll see where it takes us.” 

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The 56-year-old was delighted with the application of his players during the Addicks’ 3-1 triumph over Lincoln City in midweek and wants more of the same this weekend.

“You can’t fault the attitude of the players,” he said. “I certainly can’t since I’ve joined the football club. It’s been first class. It was a real good performance the other night - an excellent win. We’d liked to have scored maybe a couple more goals but it was an excellent performance from that point of view. 

“When we did the debrief there were some really good things we did in the first half before Jake [Forster-Caskey] went off. It’s not nice to see Jake get injured but the lads kept themselves going and kept responding. It’s a real tight-knit group of players who have shown an excellent attitude since I’ve joined for sure.”

The manager also provided an injury update on Diallang Jaiyesimi and Jake Forster-Caskey, who was forced off on 38 minutes against the Imps with an ACL injury. 

“We’ve trained well the last couple of days. Everyone’s going to be putting themselves forward. DJ [Diallang Jaiyesimi] has been out injured for a long period of time so we’ll see where he is with that one but the rest of the lads all want to be involved. They are all looking to make a contribution from the start or, if not, the impact coming off the bench.

“Jake’s on the road to recovery and the process that goes on there. People get injured in football; it’s unfortunate for Jake but he’s going to get fantastic support here from the football club. He’s valued by us here at the football club. He’s got to go through the process and he’s prepared to go and do that so we’ll be there to support him along the way.”

CharltonTV subscribers can watch the press conference in full below.

Article by James Waller

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