Joe Dodoo’s loan spell from Rangers to Charlton Athletic takes a downward turn

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Charlton Athletic manager Karl Robinson has explained why Rangers loanee Joe Dodoo was left on the bench in the League One draw with Walsall.

Joe Dodoo has a habit of starting well. The striker scored a hat-trick on his senior debut for Leicester City against Bury in the 2015 EFL Cup before taking to life like a duck to water at Rangers last summer, hitting the net twice in his first three appearances for the Scottish giants.

And, just 22 minutes into his loan spell at Charlton Athletic this season, Dodoo opened his account with a well-taken finish in a 4-3 win over Oldham Athletic last month.

The problem, however, is that the 22-year-old doesn’t seem to be able to maintain that excellent early start. And, after the goals and opportunities quickly dried up at Leicester and Rangers, the same thing may be happening again at League One Charlton.

Dodoo has made only four substitute appearances since that debut goal, totalling 54 minutes, and failed to make it off the bench in Tuesday’s 2-2 draw with Walsall. And manager Karl Robinson has made it clear that Dodoo might have to get used to gathering splinters in the dugout.

“He’s come on in the last few games and when you come on, you have to have an impact,” Robinson told News Shopper of Dodoo, who has struggled to make a difference in his recent outings.

“So you bring Tariqe Fosu off, who’s probably one of our best players. You bring one of our leading goal scorers [Ricky Holmes] off who’s just scored a worldie. I felt what we had on the pitch was enough to win the game. But it wasn’t to be.

“I feel there’s more to come from Joe. There’s a settling in period that every player goes through. He needs to settle down, get used to the club, what we’re trying to do, travelling and playing games again.”

And this may not bode well for Dodoo’s hopes of kick-starting a career that stalled just a few weeks into his debut campaign at Rangers. The Ibrox giants were hoping that the youngster would be given the game time to build on his undoubted potential at The Valley but his omission on Tuesday may ring a few alarm bells.