What a start to the season it has been for Lee Bowyer and his Charlton Athletic side.

With a miriad of off-field problems, nobody expected them to win promotion from League One but that is exactly what they did and, after being tipped to go straight back down from the Championship, they currently sit in second.

It is unlikely, but you would be a brave man to bet against them repeating the feat this time around.

And, on Thursday, they added another man to their squad in a bid to bolster their numbers, with former Sunderland right-back Adam Matthews signing on a free transfer and on a two-year deal.

During his four years at the Stadium of Light Matthews made just 67 appearances, notching two goals and nine assists, and was let go in the summer with the Black Cats needing to trim their wage bill.

But, based on his previous campaign, will he prove to be a good signing for the club who broke Sunderland hearts at Wembley in May?

With Anfernee Dijksteel leaving for Middlesbrough earlier in the summer, there was certainly a need for Bowyer to increase his options on the right-hand side of his defence.

As things stood, Chris Solly was the only out and out option in that area, so regardless of his contributions last season, Matthews will prove a very welcome addition.

But his statistics from the 2018/19 campaign paint a relatively encouraging picture, if not a particularly exciting one.

For the most part, Matthews is a zero-thrills right-back. Not the maurauding type who will be regularly overlapping Jonathan Williams, but a very steady pair of hands.

A pass accuracy of 79.6% shows his competency on the ball. It is a high figure for a right-back and shows that he is happy, for the most part, to keep possession safe and making nearly four interceptions per game emphasises his ability to recover it as well keep it.

Winning nearly 60% of his aerial duels shows that he will be useful assett when it comes to set-pieces, at both ends of the pitch.

However, with two assists last season, Matthews is no slouch and when he gets into a position to cross the ball he definitely has the ability to find a teammate.

Will he be a regular starter for the Addicks? Probably not. But I doubt he is signing under guise that he will be.

Matthews represents a sensible transfer and one that will almost certainly show its worth over the course of the season