Leyton Orient striker Charlie Kelman aiming to add to goal haul – Charlton await in League One play-off final

BY MAX HALL

If Charlton are to triumph in Sunday’s League One play-off final at Wembley, their hopes could hinge on muzzling the division’s Golden Boot winner Charlie Kelman.

The on-loan Queens Park Rangers hitman has scored 21 league goals this season and took his tally to 27 in all competitions by scoring both Orient goals in the controversial 2-2 draw against Stockport, in the first leg of the play-off semi-finals, which set up last week’s penalty shoot-out victory in Greater Manchester.

And the QPR forward, who is in his second season-long loan with Orient after a previous spell two seasons ago, told Sky Sports after the win in Stockport that he was not done netting yet.

“I just want to score goals so, for me, every time I go on the pitch it feels like I’m going to score and I want to give the boys that confidence that when they put me in the team, I’m going to score goals,” said the USA U20 international.

“I knew that when we came here [to Stockport] we were going to win. There was no doubt. We were sitting in the hotel yesterday saying: ‘Lads, this isn’t going to be our last away trip,’ even to the point where people left their boots at the training ground. At the end of the season, you collect your boots but no-one expected this to be our last game, so we’ve got a massive amount of confidence. We know it’s going to be tough. There’s one more to go.”

With The Addicks having booked their trip to Wembley with a tight 1-0 win over Wycombe Wanderers on Thursday – securing the same aggregate scoreline – Kelman said Charlton will have to prepare to face a tactically flexible manager who knows how to get the best out of his leading man.

Discussing how important Os boss Richie Wellens has been in improving Kelman’s game, the forward said: “He’s just great with me. Over the last few years, seeing the evolution of myself, he can take a lot of credit for that because a lot of people [at Orient] said: ‘Oh, why are we signing him? Why are we doing it?’

“He saw something in me from the start and I’m just pleased I can repay that.

“I’ve been very vocal about the gaffer. I feel like he’s going to go right to the top, the way he sets his teams up; the way, tactically, he knows how to set up different game plans for different teams. He deserves a massive amount of credit for what he’s done, the record that he’s done. As soon as I met him, in the holiday, I knew I was coming back.

“He helps my game and I promised him 20 goals and now we’re going to Wembley.”

PICTURE: ALAMY