CHARLTON columnist MATIAS GREZ believes both improved team and individual displays go a long way to explaining his side's recent climb up the Championship table.

THE recent upturn in form has been more than welcome at The Valley.

Prior to the Easter weekend, a dismal home performance which saw us lose 2-0 against rivals Millwall, combined with teams in the bottom half of the table starting to pick up points, had left Chris Powell’s men just three points above the relegation zone.

Since then, Charlton have recorded their fifth and sixth home wins of the season against Bolton and Leeds, sandwiching in between a hard-earned draw away to play-off chasers Brighton.

Seven points out of nine against three teams which have all been in and around the play-offs of late is a better return than most could have hoped for and have surely dispelled any lingering fears of relegation.

Another win, or a few points picked up here and there from draws, should now be enough to secure our Championship status for another year.

The success in recent weeks has been a stark contrast to our early season displays, which would most probably have seen then crumble under the pressure against Brighton and certainly not capitalise on their numerical advantage against Bolton.

This upturn in form has been in no small part down to outstanding, collective team displays but also, more importantly, down to a massive improvement in individual performances.

Johnnie Jackson has once again emerged as the outstanding captain and leader he was last season in League One.

Lawrie Wilson has proved to be a more than able deputy to Chris Solly at right-back and equally as comfortable filling in at right-midfield.

Since his re-instalment into the first team, aside from letting in a dodgy goal against Bolton, Ben Hamer has been outstanding and single-handedly earned the side a point against Brighton with easily one of the individual displays of the season.

Although he still blows hot and cold, Bradley Pritchard is gradually starting to grow on me as I’ve realised that even with Chris Powell playing him out of position on the right wing, he still works hard and tries to do a selfless job for the team.

However, more importantly than anything else, Powell has somehow found a way to instil a gritty and (clichéd) never-say-die attitude, which was missing so often earlier in the season, and turned us into a team which looks like it is determined to stay in the Championship for another year.

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