ALFIE May says he just wants to keep on scoring for Charlton after taking his season’s tally to 14 with a brace in tonight’s 6-1 FA Cup replay win at Cray Velley PM.
The Addicks striker produced a delightful 35th minute finish to put the League One side ahead, only for the Eltham non-leaguers to draw level just before the break through Kyrell Lisbie’s controversially awarded penalty.
But any hopes of an upset were quickly dashed early in the second period as Miles Leaburn headed Charlton back in front before May grabbed his second of the evening on 51 minutes.
George Dobson added a fourth with a 25-yard screamer and there were further goals from Tyreece Campbell and youngster Micah Mbick to wrap up what in the end was a comfortable win.
May already tops the League One scoring charts with 12 to his name from 15 games and the summer signing from Cheltenham is determined to simply carry on doing what he does best.
He told BBC Match of the Day: “For me, I feel really fit this year. I know that – like we all know – football can be a tough game running around and that, but I love just running.
“I try and get it into my head that they are going to be tired in the second half. I need that second wind, so I need to step it up.
“If I’m at 90 percent, I want to go to 100 percent. I just want to keep running around, chasing balls down and scoring goals. It is the best feeling ever.
“I want another 20+ (season). I know people will probably already look that I’m on 12 now but that will be my next target to go for and see where I end up.
“I just love scoring goals, it’s a great feeling.”
The opener tonight was certainly impressive, the striker latching on to Lucas Ness’ pass before taking a couple of touches and delivering a cool finish.
And the goal came as no surprise to May, who revealed afterwards he had already tried something very similar in the build-up to tonight’s tie at Sparrows Lane.
He said: “I say it quite a lot – I’m a player that I want to be facing the goal. I want defenders facing their own goal as well. It is crazy that this finish I did in training yesterday and it has come off today.
“It just shows you that the practice you do in training can help on match day.
May’s second goal came from a tight angle and he added: “With this one, you know the one that you don’t hit sweet? It gradually goes in.”
Having spent the majority of his early career making a name for himself on the non-league scene, tonight’s short trip to Cray Valley wasn’t necessarily a shock to the system like it may have been for a few Addicks stars.
May said: “I think we were very professional tonight.
“For me as well knowing the background I’ve come from, knowing what the pitch is like, it was a little bit different to The Valley.
“But we came here to do a job, get out of here and get into the next round. That was the important thing to do.”
And in that next round Charlton face another short trip, this time down the A2 at Gillingham.
“It is like a local derby but it is another game,” said May.
“We go there and try and get through to the next round. It’s important.”
Following the creditable 2-2 weekend draw at leaders Pompey, May is hoping Charlton are about to go on another unbeaten spell similar to the one they enjoyed when Appleton first came in as boss.
“That’s what we want,” the forward said.
“Even in the league, we want to go on runs. We went on a nice little run in the league and it has put us back up there.
“We’ve just got to keep going as a group. We are pretty young, so it is all about sticking together.
“In each game we take it game by game and are ticking them off.”
