Charlton Athletic 1 Bradford City 0 - Five things we learned

Lyle Taylor is human

The Valley saw every facet of the talismanic striker’s game on Saturday.

Without doubt he’s the Club’s most influential player. But against Bradford he provided what could go down as miss of the season. A miss that proves the usually clinical striker is in fact human.

The woeful miss aside, the forward was almost flawless. He was everywhere on Saturday, defending deep, releasing pressure, and always available as an outlet when needed. People talk about the absence of Karlan Grant in the second half of the season, but could you imagine if it was Taylor who’d have gone?

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Play-off places almost guaranteed

A tale of two halves. Charlton were exceptional in the opening 45 minutes creating a host of chances.

After the break though it was a snooze-fest, granted it was helped by Bradford being content with sitting deep despite knowing they could ill afford to lose the game.

Another reason for this could be that The Addicks are nearly guaranteed a play-off spot and without any realistic chance of gate-crashing the top tow spaces.

Confidence is high at the club but motivation maybe lacking when it comes to ‘lesser’ games.

I’d expect a far more motivated outfit when Luton come to town, or if/when the play-off games begin.

Anfernee Dijksteel improving, but still plenty to work on

The first half the right-back played possibly his best for the club.

His standards slipped somewhat in the second 45 however, similar to much of the side.

Lee Bowyer is a big fan of the Dutchman and chose him over Chris Solly for the Bradford tie.

He has an abundance of speed, which incidentally is his biggest asset in defence as well as attack. His issue is he switches off at key moments. In the second half he was caught out of position and caught in possession on more than one occasion.

His end product is something Bowyer is also working on with the 22-year-old.

If he could iron out those flaws, the right-back could be a key player for the club over the next couple of years.

READ:Charlton's Lee Bowyer looks to improve after 1-0 Bradford win

Results Elsewhere

Portsmouth and Sunderland played out an entertaining Checkatrade Trophy final on Sunday, meaning they weren’t in league action.

Sunderland, if they win their games in hand will go into the automatic promotion places at Barnsley’s expense, a scenario that most Addicks would be hoping for considering Sunderland proved to be the toughest opponents for Lee Bowyer’s men this season.

But all Charlton can do is keep winning, keep the momentum and should a play-off semi against Pompey, Barnsley, or Doncaster prove to be the case then they’ll no doubt fancy their chances knowing they’ve already got the better of this season.

READ: Why Charlton deserve to go up by Ex-Addick Billy Clarke

Bradford a team already down

Bowyer said he was surprised by Bradford’s league position, but after Saturday’s game I think most fans can see why they are.

Yes, as Bowyer said, they are great going forward and in David Ball, Lewis O’Brien and Eoin Doyle they have three very lively frontmen.

But defensively they are poor. Very poor. Charlton should’ve been three goals to the good by half-time.

Bradford looked a deflated costume of a side after they conceded, with very little belief a comeback was on the cards.

That said their manager Gary Bowyer has been there before with Blackpool, and should they go down, I’d expect an immediate response.