Stalemate at The Valley

By Steve Pass

Image: Phillips: Scored equaliser

Promotion hopefuls Charlton and West Brom shared a 1-1 draw in a lively encounter at The Valley.

Phillips cancels out Halford's opener

Promotion hopefuls Charlton and West Brom shared a 1-1 draw in a lively encounter at The Valley on Good Friday. First-half goals from Greg Halford and Kevin Phillips saw the teams earn a point, with Charlton moving to eighth in the Championship and the Baggies remaining in fourth. The game's first real chance fell to Halford, who put a 25-yard curling free-kick just inches wide of Dean Kiely's left-hand post in the 12th minute. The Baggies hit back four minutes later with three shots in quick succession from Phillips, Robert Koren and Jonathan Greening, which Charlton had to desperately block. The home side then took the lead in the 30th minute through Halford's first goal for the club. Darren Ambrose sent in a 30-yard free-kick from the left and the Charlton defender rose tallest to nod the ball into the bottom right-hand corner.

Drew level

But the Baggies drew level on 42 minutes through Kevin Phillips 19th league goal of the season. Greening sent in a free-kick from the right of the box and Zoltan Gera did well to out-jump Ben Thatcher at the far-post and head back to Phillips. The veteran striker then picked his spot in the top left-hand corner, with the ball going in from the under-side of the bar. Sam Sodje could then have put Charlton back in front in the 44th minute but blasted his effort over, while Phillips sent a 35-yard free-kick just wide in first-half injury time. After the restart, Leroy Lita, Jerome Thomas and Sodje all went close for Charlton, while Ishmael Miller just failed to get onto a cross at the other end. Miller found the net in the 62nd minute but his effort was rightly disallowed as he was marginally offside from a Phillips knock-on. Ambrose sent a 70th minute free-kick over for Charlton, while Phillips went close for the Baggies on 78 minutes. Both teams pushed on to try and take all three points, and Gera almost won it for West Brom with a fantastic strike from outside the box which hit the bar.
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