Jamie Ward struck his first goal for Charlton in the 3-1 win over Bristol Rovers on Saturday, and with it got the praise of the manager.

The Nottingham Forest loanee opened the scoring in the tenth minute, showing a great touch to bring down a long Jed Steer pass before lifting it over the on-coming keeper.

“(Jamie) Ward brings something different we didn’t have,” said manager Lee Bowyer.

“Cleverness, awareness. You can tell he’s played up in the Championship, he’s very clever, an international player. We’ve been lucky to have him.

His goal was a great finish. To have the willingness to run from the edge of your own box, the length of the pitch, trust me it’s not easy.

“He’s deserved that for a lot of his performances.”

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The Northern Irish international, 32, however was a little more humble in his analysis.

“It hit my chin, hit my chest and rolled onto my thigh!” said Ward.

“Everyone was saying it was a great first touch, but it was just nice to be able to get into that position and finish it off. In training, I’ve been hitting everything apart from the net so it was nice to see it go over the keeper and bounce into the net.

“All credit goes to Jed. He deserves the praise, not me. The keeper was far enough away for me to get it up and down, but it was a great kick from Jed and it was something that we spoke about earlier in the week so it’s important that we keep taking things like that on board.”

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Bowyer mentioned the experience the 32-year-old has, and how it’s helped Charlton grind out wins that according to Bowyer they would not have won earlier in the season.

“It’s about being clever,” said Ward about seeing games out by maintaining possession and running the clock down.

“A lot of teams do it when we’re away, for instance, so it’s about doing it right without getting caught out. I think we could do it a bit better at times, we’re too eager to get the ball back on the pitch too quickly at times, but I’m sure we’ll carry on learning that along the way.”

With Ward expected to return to Forest on the 1st of January, both Bowyer and Ward have previously made their feelings known on extending the loanee's stay at The Valley.

Charlton travel to Burton on Tuesday.