Charlton Athletic U23s midfielder Armando Junior Quitirna spoke to Valley Gold for Academy Notes after the recent 3-0 win at Swansea City.
The 20-year-old who is in his third season at the club thanked Academy Manager Steve Avory and his team for making him the player he is today: “Being signed and playing for Charlton has been the best thing that’s happened to me in my footballing career and I hope it keeps on going.”
Speaking about the 3-0 victory, Armando told Valley Gold:
“As a team, we started the season off really well and were on a high with a lot of clean sheets and goals, but when there’s a high, there comes a low. We started losing far too many games, especially with the squad we’ve got.
“After a big 3-0 victory against a good Swansea side and with me contributing with 2 assists, it makes it a very good day at the office.
“This is a big boost for the team showing the quality and delivering a good performance for us all to be proud of. Everyone played and pushed one another. As soon as the whistle blew we did the right things. Before the game, we sat down and listened to Jason Euell talk about every single one of us are here because we aren’t it and I think the boys felt it especially me.
“From the first half, we played football with courage and we were pressing well and winning the ball in their half. We were patient in what we were doing which saw us take an early lead.
“When Brendan Wiredu picked up the ball from the midfield, I knew where to run, and he gave me the ball which I then crossed for Johl Powell to finish.
“After we scored the goal the work and dedication didn’t stop from the boys, we kept pushing and plugging to see us a goal up at half-time. We went in at the break knowing that’s not enough and we’re going to come out even better, and that’s exactly what we did as a team.
“As we started the second half, again we were patient but with an intention to go forward. Swansea could not break us down, they couldn’t get through us as a unit and the result shows it. Every time we went forward we looked to score and it paid off when we broke the deadlock again with me providing Johl for his second. Jay Mingi did well with the ball, handing it over for me to dribble into the box and slotting the ball to Johl for an easy finish.
“Even though at this point we felt we had won the game, we were still hungry for more and not long after Brendan a well-deserved goal scored from a set-piece after a superb ball from Aaron Henry.
“Now it’s onto the next game with the same mindset and desire to win more games of football.”
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