KEEPER Ashley Maynard-Brewer knows it is vital Charlton fly out of the traps if they are to challenge for a Championship return.
The Addicks certainly made the perfect start in Saturday’s opening fixture, with the Australian stopper securing a clean sheet in a 1-0 derby success over Leyton Orient at The Valley.
More than 18,000 fans turned up to witness George Dobson score the only goal of the game just before the break and ensure Charlton bagged their first maximum return on day one.
Maynard-Brewer knows lots can happen between now and May, but is fully aware how significant collecting those early points can prove at the end of the season.
He said: “It is so important just to get off on our way and make sure we stay close to the promotion spots.
“There is nothing worse than having a slow start and having to kind of have a reset.
“We can go into the next few games full of confidence, get on the front foot and try to stay at the top of the table or close to the top of the table.”
Charlton are fully expected by many experts to be involved in the promotion chase, although academy graduate Maynard-Brewer says they don’t feel under any undue pressure to meet those expectations.
“I don’t think we read too much into it,” he explained.
“We are pretty optimistic going off how we finished last season. We know that we are a team that could really push for promotion this season.
“But it is a long season and I think where we went wrong last year was our inconsistency.
“It is a very long season and we need to maintain the levels that we showed today.”
There were some impressive displays against the Os, notably from wing duo Nathan Asiimwe and Corey Blackett-Taylor.
Asiimwe was making his debut following a summer switch from Plymouth, while Blackett-Taylor was back in the fold after last season’s injury woes and set up Dobson’s winner.
Maynard-Brewer praised not only those two, but also the entire backline for what was a great team effort.
He said: “It was pretty perfect – a big crowd. From the performance side I thought it was really good.
“With Leyton Orient just coming up from League Two, it was always going to be an intense game.
“The way we went about it, especially towards the end when I think we saw out the game, I thought that was great.
“Nathan and Corey were excellent. They really stood up.
“I thought the back five was pretty spot on. As a team as well, we were perfect defensively.
“We took on board what we needed to do from last week against Aberdeen and coming into this game, we really went about our game-plan perfectly. We got a clean sheet, which we didn’t get enough of last season.”
The keeper joined in the celebrations with the fans and players in front of the Covered End at the final whistle, revealing they had been fully encouraged to do so by Dean Holden.
Maynard-Brewer said: “It is all down to the manager.
“He really wants to make an effort for the team and for the team to connect to the fans and get them involved as much (as possible), because you saw today when however many there was that it was a completely different game.
“The atmosphere definitely helped us see it out.”
