Jason Pearce pledges Charlton will keep pressure on former club Portsmouth, Sunderland and Barnsley

Jason Pearce has vowed to keep cranking the pressure on his former club.
Jason Pearce. Picture: Scott Heavey/ PAJason Pearce. Picture: Scott Heavey/ PA
Jason Pearce. Picture: Scott Heavey/ PA

The ex-Pompey skipper has insisted Charlton still have automatic promotion firmly set in their sights.

With leaders Luton looking highly likely to finish in the top two, the Blues, the Addicks, Sunderland and Barnsley are all fighting for the other berth. 

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Fifth-placed Charlton are the outsiders to go up automatically, sitting four points behind second-placed Sunderland.

Jason Pearce. Picture: Scott Heavey/ PAJason Pearce. Picture: Scott Heavey/ PA
Jason Pearce. Picture: Scott Heavey/ PA

Lee Bowyer’s side’s 1-0 win at Wycombe on Tuesday moved them within a point of Pompey, although they have played a game more. 

Despite being the outsiders to go up automatically, Pearce and the Addicks still believe they can leapfrog their promotion rivals and reach the Championship.

The centre-back told londonnewsonline.co.uk: ‘If we keep winning and they (promotion rivals) look behind and see Charlton keep winning, it’s going to be difficult for them because they know they’ve got to win.

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‘We’re four points off it, which at this stage of the season is a decent little gap but we’ll keep plugging away and keep trying to win the games.

‘The manager has said to us all along that he feels like we can get into the top two.

‘He keeps drilling that into us. At the moment we’re getting the victories and the clean sheets.

‘The boys are playing well. Long may that continue.

‘You’ve got to keep your feet on the floor. If we take our foot off the gas we’ll get beaten by any team in this league.

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‘Luckily, we’re keeping it going at the moment. We’ve got players on the bench who want to play and the lads who are playing are doing well.

‘We’ve just got to all stay together.’

Charlton welcome Luton to the Valley tomorrow.

And the hosts must put paid to the Hatters’ 28-match unbeaten run in the league if they’re to maintain a top-two push.

Pearce added: ‘That’s obviously going to be a massively hard game.

‘They are a top, top team in this division. They’ve done great.

‘Everyone is going to have to be on it. It’s at home so we’ll have the fans behind us.

‘We’ll just give our all and try to get the three points.’