LUCAS Ness is looking to make the most of every opportunity that comes his way as Charlton’s promotion push heats up ahead of the busy festive period.
The defender has found himself on the bench more often than not under Michael Appleton, but has completed 90 minutes in the FA Cup double clash with Cray Valley PM and last night’s 3-0 EFL trophy win over Sutton.
Things are about to get busy for Appleton’s side, with a long trip this weekend to Carlisle followed by Tuesday evening’s Valley date with Cheltenham and then four December fixtures in the run-up to Boxing Day.
Things don’t exactly lighten up in the football world once Christmas and New Year comes, with Ness hoping his recent cup exploits haven’t gone unnoticed.
Ness produced an assured defensive display to keep Sutton’s 6ft5in striker Harry Smith quiet as Charlton booked their place in the next stage of the competition thanks to goals from Corey Blackett-Taylor, Conor McGradles and Alfie May.
And the 21-year-old revealed afterwards Appleton told all the fringe players they were in with a chance of being involved again soon as the games come thick and fast.
He told Charlton TV: “It is a very busy period.
“I think it is Saturday-Tuesday for a couple of weeks now, so the gaffer said in there it has to be everyone in the squad that is prepared and everyone is going to play a part.
“It is a busy period but also one to look forward to.
“Hopefully we can play a good few games and then we are looking up.”
Charlton could even afford a Blackett-Taylor penalty miss as they comfortably saw off fellow South Londoners Sutton to book their place in tomorrow’s draw.
But a clean sheet is not to be sniffed at in any competition, particularly when a towering former Millwall attacker like Smith is back in south-east London.
“It was a very tough game,” said Ness.
“I think that is probably one of the biggest strikers in the EFL, it has to be.
“It was a tough challenge and very physical, but we did really well to get the clean sheet.
“Now we are through to the next round and can look forward to the draw.”
Ness added: “You are not going to win every one (challenges v Smith), it’s impossible.
“So it was important that the other players got around me when I was going up to challenge.
“We did our research and we knew what was going to happen.
“I think they are the most direct team in League Two, so we knew what sort of game it was going to be and we prepared well.
“It was very tough, especially with set pieces. We didn’t necessarily have the biggest of teams tonight playing centre back.
“We had three full-backs playing, so we knew it was going to be a challenge but I thought like we did well against them.”
