Stand-in Charlton Athletic Boss Lee Bowyer blasted his side's defeat at home against Scunthorpe United as 'sluggish' as his side lost their grip on the League One play off race.

The Addicks are without a win in three matches now, two points outside the top six with tough matches against Shrewsbury, Portsmouth and Blackburn all coming up.

"We looked sluggish," Bowyer told Kent Live. "The players’ preparation has been the same as it has for all of the other games. Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday over the last few weeks has maybe caught up with them but there is no excuse, really."

Ivan Toney grabbed the only goal of the game as Bowyer's charges suffered their second defeat to nil in just four days.

“We weren’t at the races and when you are passing the ball, it doesn’t matter how tired you are, you should still take care. We created a lot of chances for them by just giving them the ball back. They were hitting us on the break from our sloppy play. In the time I’ve been in charge, in the first four games certainly, that hadn’t been the case.”

Charlton now face a tough trip to Shropshire to face Shrewsbury Town, although the former Leeds man is under no illusions what he expects from his side, who are still in the hunt for a top six spot.

“There is a lot of football to be played yet. It will be a big task on Tuesday but again I’ll be expecting a reaction, and a better one to the one I had today."

The Verdict

Tough tackling, tough talking, Lee Bowyer never changes. His side are still hunting a top six spot but it's going to be a huge ask with such big matches still to play.

If they could force a draw at Shrewsbury and get a positive result against Portsmouth they might be in with a chance, but as the games ebb away it looks like they'll be in league One for a little while yet.