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Charlton Athletic's Dale Stephens writes for the KM Group

Dale Stephens
Dale Stephens

With eight matches left this season, starting with Saturday’s home game against Bolton Wanderers, we have everything to play for.

Everyone says it but the Championship is so tight. I was looking at the table the other day and just three points separated 11th place from 19th – what looks like mid-table security to being right in the thick of the battle to avoid the drop.

Obviously, we want to stay as far away as possible from those bottom three places and the only way you can do that is by picking up points.

Having been brought up in Bolton, I’m looking forward to this weekend’s game because family and friends support the club, which gives me extra motivation to perform well if selected.

At the start of the month I had a hip problem but I’m fit again now and after being back on the bench for the past few games, I’m looking to earn my place back in the starting line-up.

After winning League 1 last season, it’s been a different season for the club and nowhere is that more evident than in our home form.

We won 15 games at The Valley last season and only lost twice, while we’ve only won four times and lost nine in 2012/13. We know that’s not good enough.

It’s been a difficult season, with a large number of the squad playing in the Championship for the first time and we’ve been more affected by injuries than we were last year.

Our main aim was to make sure that we stayed in the second tier and prove we could play in the Championship and we’re on course to do that.

Bolton will be tough opponents and Brighton & Hove Albion will be the same on Tuesday night. We are capable of getting good results from all our remaining eight games.

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