This article is part of Football League World's 'Regular Punter' series, where we gather original opinions from select, passionate fans of the clubs concerned on matters surrounding their team and share them with a wider audience...

Football League World's Charlton Athletic fan pundit Robert Smith has sprung to the defence of Lee Bowyer after he made some bizarre comments following their weekend defeat to Birmingham City.

Reported by Birmingham Live, Bowyer pinned the blame for the defeat on the state of The Valley pitch, a strange move considering it was his own.

However, whilst Smith is not convinced by the excuse, he also thinks he was well within his rights to make the comment.

"I believe if Bowyer raised it as a concern it would have been a valid one," the regular punter told Football League World.

"One could argue the longer grass can effect a quicker passing style which Charlton needed to break down a resilient Birmingham side but in truth I am not sure how much of a part it played.

"He mentioned the pitch but in truth he was more frustrated with the first half performance, the time wasting and gamesmanship from Birmingham plus getting farcically sent off at the end of the game.

"I doubt it will cause any issues inside the club. You’d be a brave man to not heed Bowyer's frustrations and I wouldn’t be surprised if the groundsman was in nice and early this morning with the lawnmower at the ready."

The 1-0 loss was the Addicks' first of the season following their promotion to the Championship last season, bumping them down into third place.

Prior to the loss, they had seen off the likes of Brentford, Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City as they made a quick start to life back in the second-tier.

This weekend sees them travel to Wigan Athletic as they look to bounce straight back to winning ways and we can only hope that the Latics pitch is in prime condition.