This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Comment’ series, this content strand is where the author of the article issues their personal opinion on the topic at hand....
Charlton Athletic have moved into the Championship play-off places following their impressive 1-0 victory over Leeds United on Saturday afternoon.
Macauley Bonne scored the the winning goal after 32 minutes at The Valley in a game where Leeds dominated the possession stats, but ultimately failed to breach Charlton's resolute set-up which secured them the three points.
The Addicks have made a convincing start to life in the second tier following their promotion from League One last term, with this latest result proving just how far Lee Bowyer has taken this side since his arrival at the club.
They lost a number of their key players from last season during the summer transfer window including Anfernee Dijksteel, Joe Aribo and Krystian Bielik but have utilised the free transfer and loan markets effectively to bolster their squad for this campaign.
Bowyer's side have now collected 17 points from their opening nine matches and the Leeds result suggests their strong early-season form has been no fluke, with The Valley now being widely regarded as an extremely tough place to visit for Championship sides.
The Leeds win was the first match in a busy seven-day period for Charlton as they now prepare to welcome Championship high-flyers Swansea City to The Valley on Wednesday before a difficult trip to face Fulham next weekend.
Two positive results from these upcoming matches would give Bowyer's men a further boost heading into the next international break, and his side can make a real statement by building on their victory over Leeds to secure further successes.
Their next match sees them face a second-placed Swansea side who are unbeaten on the road during their league campaign so far, but it may now be a good time for Charlton to face the Welsh side after they conceded a late goal to drop two points against Reading on the weekend.
Swansea and Charlton have been two of the surprise packages in the Championship this season and it will be fascinating to see how two tactically strong managers in Steve Cooper and Bowyer fare against each other on Wednesday night.
A victory for Charlton would mean they will have ended the unbeaten away records of two promotion-chasing teams in just four days, and this would give the Addicks huge belief that they can defeat any side while playing at The Valley.
They then face another side targeting promotion in Fulham after the Swansea match, and avoiding defeat at Craven Cottage would be another clear signal that Charlton are not in the division to make up the numbers this season.
It may be early on in the season, but Charlton have now earned the chance to really show their promotion credentials over the next four days before the international break.
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