Charlton Athletic U18s striker Mason Burstow spoke to Valley Gold for Academy Notes after the recent 2-0 win away at QPR.
The 17-year-old signed for the Academy in October 2020 and is in the second-year Scholar group and says his mains strengths are his variety of finishing skills, playing with his back to goal and his high work rate, and speaking after the London derby fixture, Mason said:
“In the performance against QPR, I think we dominated the ball and created much more chances to score. I also think we showed better discipline with or without the ball over the course of the game. For example, recognising when to press or hold and recognising when to slow the game down or speed the game up with the ball. This also links to how I think we varied our game well by choosing to go long sometimes as well as going short.
“The negatives of our performance were that I think sometimes we were too rushed in possession. We struggled to perform some of the basics at times and out of possession, I think we started to get a bit more complacent with the press. Finally, we struggled with the final actions which would be scoring and not getting enough shots off which made the game a lot more difficult as we should have won by a greater scoreline.
“We won the game 2-0, courtesy of an own goal which was caused by a vicious Jeremy Santos cross and a high-quality strike from Richard Chin, who thumped an effort into the top left-hand corner from the edge of the penalty area. The result leaves us in 4th position and still in with a chance of winning the league title.”
Valley Gold enables supporters to play a pivotal role in the future of Charlton Athletic by helping the club to unearth talented footballers through its youth system. Valley Gold is entirely supporter-funded, with membership costing £120 per year. As a member of Valley Gold, you will also have the opportunity to scoop up to £5,000 in regular cash prizes. To learn more about the scheme or to become a Valley Gold member, please click here.