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Your wish is Granted for Karlan
Your wish is Granted for Karlan

Karlan Grant celebrated his 21st birthday on Tuesday. Fortunately for Charlton, he carried his celebrations forward, to notch the two goals that secured three points against Plymouth on Saturday.

Grant first burst on the scene in 2014 which has tended to mask how young he is. Fans do not really think of him as a youngster, though he is in fact younger than George Lapslie.

His career has stuttered, but last season’s loan spell under Harry Kewell at Crawley brought him on a ton, and he is now looking the player he threatened to become as a teenager.

Here are his reflections after Saturday’s game:

‎”I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday present, maybe a hat-trick, but that would be being greedy!

“We deserved the win. We were good for the 90 minutes, we kept knocking on the door and we reaped our rewards.

“I kept believing , we had chances, but we just couldn’t put them away at first. We kept believing as a team.

“As you saw towards the end, we didn’t hoof the ball long, we kept trying to play and do the right things and we were rewarded for that.”‎

‎Grant was the sponsors’ Man of the Match, and he has now achieved his best seasonal goal return for the Addicks.

He wants to become the complete striker as he explained:

‎”That’s the kind of striker I want to become, as well as scoring ‘good’ goals, I want to get the ‘ugly’ tap-ins. It was just good to get on the scoresheet and it was great to get the win.

“I just want to keep scoring and keep winning. I’m enjoying it at the moment. I’ve caught up with Lyle, I’m level with him now. Scoring always feels good.

As Lee Bowyer has pointed out, there has been a noticeable change in the way Grant and Lyle Taylor have linked up since the Accrington game.

They now look a pair, a partnership, whereas before they did not really show that understanding.

Both of them are Greenwich born, so can empathise with the fans. Grant added:

‎”The crowd have been outstanding for the whole season. They kept getting behind us and you can see the difference they make.

“Even when we went a goal down, they didn’t get on our backs. They see the way we want to play and that’s with patient football. They kept us going and kept pushing us and I can’t thank them enough for it.

“We’re in a good position now. We’re on a run with four wins in four and we go to Luton next week which will be tough, but we’ll be looking to get three points again, just like every game.”

It is many years since Charlton had two goalscoring strikers up front. If Grant and Taylor continue in their current form, the club’s prospects for the season look bright.

 
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