Lee Bowyer expects to have Igor Vetokele back for the playoff semi-finals after the striker didn’t feature in Charlton’s thrashing of Rochdale.

The 27-year-old played 90 minutes in the 2-0 win over Gillingham but was not in the 18-man squad for the final game of the League One regular season.

Bowyer instead welcomed back Lyle Taylor, who also didn’t feature against the Gills, and paired him up top with Josh Parker.

Charlton will face Doncaster Rovers in the playoff semi-finals, travelling away for the first leg before hosting the second, after finishing third in the league table.

He said: “We were doing a bit of finishing on Thursday and his thigh just tightened up a little bit, so we just couldn't take the risk.”

Asked about Taylor’s situation, and whether taking him off was a precautionary measure, Bowyer added: “I wanted to bring him off sooner but, we knew with that third place, we needed the fourth goal to be able to get the third place.

“If Portsmouth would've gone and won then obviously it's out of our hands but, at half time, I said to them that you need to score again.

“At the moment, if you score again, you're in third spot.

“I didn't want to leave Lyle on for as long as what we did, I didn't want to take the risk, but I had to because he was causing them so many problems and he was putting so many great balls in.

“I had to take the gamble and it's paid off.”