John Buckley admits he was ‘second guessing himself’ after being left out of the Rovers side following his two starts over the festive period.

The 20-year-old is now hoping a goal on his fourth start at Charlton can see him maintain a spot in the side for the rest of the season.

The academy graduate started the Boxing Day draw with Birmingham and the defeat at Huddersfield three days later, but had made just one matchday squad since before coming off the bench late in the win over Hull City.

He was then handed a start at The Valley where he came up with the opening goal in a 2-0 win that moved Rovers within three points of the top six. And the midfielder hopes his hard work behind the scenes will pay off moving forward.

“You end up second guessing yourself a little bit, but I’ve been working hard, doing extra every day,” he said.

“I’ve been staying late when everyone’s gone looking for another chance and hopefully I can get more.

“Every training session I’m looking at how I can better myself, and I’ll do the same from this game.

“I’ve been doing finishing mostly, Damo (Damien Johnson) might need to put a few more mannequins in there so I can get some more deflections.”

Buckley scored his first senior goal for Rovers in a 2-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday in December, a game in which Tosin Adarabioyo also netted.

And it was that pair again who were on target in the win at The Valley as Rovers made it back-to-back wins.

Buckley’s effort handed Rovers the lead just before the half hour, his shot taking a deflection en route to nestling in the back of the net, as did his strike in the win over Wednesday.

“I was buzzing with the goal, I love a little deflection don’t I,” he joked.

“You just have to hit the target, anything can happen if you hit the target, but I’m buzzing.

“I’ve been waiting for my chance for a few weeks now and I felt like I took it.

“I thought I played well, as well as getting the goal, and I’ll look to keep trying to better myself.”

Charlton were backed by a sold-out home following and started both halves strongly, with Rovers goalkeeper Christian Walton needing to be alert on a few occasions.

But the visitors were good value for their half-time lead as they dominated the final half an hour of the opening period, with the goals coming within eight minutes of each other.

“They came out of the traps pretty quick, first half and second half, but we managed the game very well in the second and first half I thought we dominated the ball,” Buckley added.

“We caused quite a few problems. In the final third a couple of times we could have been a bit cleverer, a bit more quality, but everyone is buzzing.”