Charlton hold blunt Magpies
Damien Duff has lost his scoring touch since moving to St James' Park
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Saturday, 28, Oct 2006 07:59
Charlton earned a hard-fought successive Premiership 0-0 draw at St James' Park against Newcastle, with the Magpies once again guilty of missing a hatful of chances.
Unfamiliar strike partners Damien Duff and Giuseppe Rossi came the closest for the home team, but Iain Dowie's men had their moments through Darren Bent and the pace of Dennis Rommedahl.
Injuries to first-choice strikers Obafemi Martins and Shola Ameobi handed on-loan Manchester United forward Rossi his first Premiership start, but he was unable to add to his midweek Carling Cup goal despite Newcastle dominating the opening exchanges.
Skipper Scott Parker saw an early strike test Scott Carson in his old team's goal, while ex-Chelsea man Duff set the tone when he shot straight at the goalkeeper when well placed.
In truth the link up play between the Irishman and Rossi was at times slick, and Duff was unlucky to not be awarded a penalty midway through the first-half when Addicks defender Souleymane Diawara appeared to trip him in the box.
Just before the break Rossi reacted quickly to one of Duff's many scuffed shots, but he was only able to deflect the ball onto Carson's crossbar.
Left-winger Charles N'Zogbia was also denied by the Charlton goalie as Glenn Roeder pondered what his side would have to do to break the deadlock.
But his team began brightly again after the restart, with Duff's neat work only undone by his one-man quest to seemingly miss as many chances as possible.
Some quick counter attacking from Charlton kept home fans' nerves on edge as Titus Bramble, as so often is the case, slipped when under no pressure whatsoever, but England hopeful Darren Bent betrayed a chronic lack of composure and blazed the ball high and wide past Steve Harper's posts.
Shortly after Rommedahl impressively played in Bryan Hughes, but the former Birmingham midfielder shot weakly into the grateful arms of Harper.
The last chance of the game fell to N'Zogbia, but man of the match Carson pulled off another solid save to leave a chorus of boos ringing out around Tyneside as the players trudged off at the final whistle.
Newcastle remain just two points above the relegation zone while Charlton are rooted to the bottom with only one win in ten.