Powell: Players should enjoy packed Valley experience

The visit of Stevenage on Saturday will be the second time this season the Addicks have hosted a Football for a Fiver game.

In September 22,151 spectators took advantage of the offer to see a 3-1 win over Chesterfield and with an even bigger gate expected for the Stevenage match, Powell has told the players to go out and enjoy the occasion again.

He said: “It is a great experience for them because no matter how many times I tell them what The Valley is like when it is packed, sometimes they don’t believe me.

“I was fortunate enough to see it on a regular basis every other Saturday.

“Matt Taylor has experienced both sides of it, once with Exeter last year and then the Chesterfield game.

“Obviously the majority of players are new and they loved the Chesterfield experience, the atmosphere, the whole day was very good and very positive.

“Now we are playing a team who we don’t need any motivation on trying to beat because they are one of only two that have beaten us this year, so straight away with them being the opposition it speaks for itself.

“We are going to have 90 per cent of the crowd willing us on and I’ve told the players it is going to be a day which we want to enjoy.”

Powell added: “We want to push ourselves to get one over them because of what happened earlier on in the season, but also just for ourselves to keep ticking over.

“We’ve had a couple of draws recently and we want to turn those draws into wins but we are playing against a real good spirited dogged team who play decent football.

“They will play to their strengths but even under their new manager now they’ve exceeded exactly what I felt they would be after coming up last year.

“Fair play to them, they’ve taken League One in their stride.

“You’ve got to commend them for that but obviously they are coming to our place and I want us to carry on that unbeaten home run and to get three points.”

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