Kermorgant thanks Powell for signing him from Foxes

The French striker was booed by the visiting supporters ahead of last night’s game against his former club but had the last laugh by scoring Charlton’s second goal in their 2-1 win.

Kermorgant celebrated by putting a finger to his lips when facing the Foxes fans after his strike and revealed following the final whistle why he owed former Leicester coach Powell a debt of gratitude after finding himself frozen out at the King Power following a 2010 play-off penalty miss against Cardiff.

The striker said: “Everyone told me to do something against Leicester.

“It is the past for me now, I look forward.

“I wanted to just say that confidence makes a difference. I have the confidence and I can show everybody I can play in the Championship.

“It is about the confidence.

“At Leicester I never had my chance and it is difficult when you don’t play a lot of games, you don’t know the reason.

“It is the same for your team-mates – if you are not involved in the team, you can’t really gain confidence and play well.

“That is what happened at Leicester.

“Here it is different because the gaffer wanted to bring me here to do something. He knows me and he respects me – that’s the difference.

“He knew me from the training so I knew before I came why he wanted to bring me.

“It was a big difference for me and I knew the guy as well. I know he is a very good guy and a guy I can trust in.”

Kermorgant admitted scoring against his former side had been a special moment for him personally.

“Of course,” he said.

“A lot of people talked to me about Leicester, Leicester, Leicester but it was more for me a first game at home in the Championship and we wanted to do well and take the three points.

“It would have been a dream start if we had been able to win at Birmingham but we are very, very happy because we showed everybody we can compete in the Championship.

“I’m very proud of the performance of the team today.”

Kermorgant also welcomed the capture of former Stoke striker Ricardo Fuller, a move which is sure to add more competition for the two starting places up front.

“It is nice, it is football,” the fans’ favourite explained.

“Every squad has a lot of players for every position.

“We have to have a good squad and I think he will bring us something different. We need a lot of players if we want to achieve a good season again.”

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