Charlton Athletic manager Lee Bowyer has claimed that the club are overachieving with their current position in the League One table.

Following their relegation from the Championship at the end of last season, it has been something of a mixed campaign for the Addicks in the third-tier so far this season.

Saturday's 3-2 defeat at home to Gillingham means that Bowyer's side have now won just three of their last 12 league games, a run that means they are now seventh in the League One table, one position and one point outside the play-off places.

But despite that, it seems Bowyer believes that his Charlton side are doing well to be in the position they are given the circumstances.

Speaking about the club's current standing in the aftermath of that defeat to Gillingham when asked if he felt his position at the club was under threat, the Addicks boss told London News Online: “Of course we want to finish as high as we can.

"But what I would say is that if you look at Wigan – who came down like us and lost most of their better players – have a look where they are and then have a look where we are.

“I think we are over-achieving, right now. So if we don’t make the play-offs then obviously that’s a discussion that the chairman, the owner Thomas, I’m sure we will have."

Indeed, while Bowyer is seemingly still confident about his side's promotion chances, he does still appear to believe that circumstances have somewhat gone against them recently, as he added: “But I believe that me and my staff – and the players we have got together now – we will give ourselves every opportunity and we will fight for every point.

“It’s a good question but if people think we lost 12 players, were under an embargo and weren’t allowed to sign anybody – and everyone else had four, five or six weeks headstart on us – then we had the cap come in…if any other team had what we had to deal with then I’d love to see where they would be sitting now. We’re overachieving, trust me.”

Next up for Charlton and Bowyer is a trip to Highbury on Saturday afternoon to take on out-of-form Fleetwood Town.

The Verdict

To some extent, you can understand the point that Bowyer is making here.

Given the off-field uncertainty that surrounded his side coming into this season, it was never going to be the easiest of campaigns for the Addicks, and so it has proved.

But even so, Charlton are a big club for the level they are at, and to say that this is a position of overachievement for the club will not be the case long-term.

As a result, you do imagine the pressure will continue to rise on Bowyer if the situation cannot be rectified, and it would be a big concern if they failed to beat Fleetwood next weekend, given the Cod Army have won just one of their last 12 in all competitions going into that game.