Charlton Athletic goalkeeper Dillon Phillips has said that he's 'not surprised' with how well his side have started the Championship season, as the Addicks sit 9th going into Round 15.

The surprise package from the first few games of the Championship season was Lee Bowyer’s Charlton.

Having won promotion via the League One play-offs last season, they started the new season in fine form and were holding a play-off spot for much of the opening stages.

But an injury to their star man Lyle Taylor saw them drop off, and out of the top-six.

Despite winning just one game last month, Charlton remain 9th in the Championship in what has so far been a strong start to the season for the Addicks.

Speaking about his side’s season so far was Dillion Phillips:

“From the outside it looks like we are overachieving, hopefully we can keep doing that,” explained the 24-year-old.

“But it’s not surprised us. With the work ethic we have, to give 100% minimum every day, to match teams physically and with the quality we have, if you run around more you’ll surprise other teams.

“I don’t think there are any great expectations on where we should finish.

“We want to stay in the league first and foremost because it’s easy to pick up a bad run of games with the quality of sides in this division.

“So we are not getting ahead of ourselves, let’s get to that 50 point mark and see where our form can take us from there.”

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Phillips is a product of the club's youth academy and was an ever-present figure in the Charlton side that won promotion last season.

This campaign, he’s played every minute of every game for his side and has looked like a real top-class keeper in the process.

The verdict

Charlton have no doubt struggled without Taylor, having won just two of the eight games he’s missed so far.

But their form of late has been impressive, with a 3-0 win over Derby County and a reputable 2-2 draw at leaders West Brom last time out.

They’re proving hard to beat and are playing some nice football at that - there’s no doubt that they’ll be a Championship team next season, and with the expected return of Taylor this month, they could even fire themselves into a play-off push come the New Year.