Newcastle United 0 - 0 Charlton Athletic

Newcastle 0-0 Charlton: Rossi can't rescue Roeder

Updated: October 28, 2006, 2:38 PM ET

Newcastle once again squandered a host of chances as Charlton left Tyneside with a goalless draw.

Giuseppe Rossi hit the bar before the break and Damien Duff twice saw shots saved by Scott Carson when he might have done better, allowing Iain Dowie's struggling side to claim a morale-boosting point.

They might even have won it had Darren Bent not wasted the only real chance he had when he blasted wide on 69 minutes after Titus Bramble's slip had left him with just keeper Steve Harper to beat.

Scott Parker went close with a dipping 10th-minute volley which beat Carson, but also the far post.

• Roeder 'frustratred' at lack of goals

Rossi then saw a goalbound 15th-minute effort deflected wide by Duff and returned the favour seven minutes before the break when the Irishman sent the ball towards the empty net.

The teenager steered Duff's effort towards the top corner, but succeeded in hitting the underside of the bar with the ball rebounding into Carson's arms.

Carson got down well to block a driven Charles N'Zogbia effort and Duff was furious not to win a 28th-minute penalty after Souleymane Diawara appeared to clip his heels.

Duff then forced an important save from Carson within two minutes of the restart and was guilty of a bad miss seconds later when he scuffed his right-foot effort harmlessly at the keeper.

Duff lost out to the Charlton keeper once again a minute later and he fired into the side-netting after 59 minutes.

But then Darren Bent squandered a glorious opportunity for Charlton when he shot wide after Bramble's 69th-minute slip

Rossi curled a 79th-minute free-kick inches over, but Bryan Hughes volleyed just wide at the other end two minutes later and Darren Bent flicked across the face of goal.

Roeder 'frustratred' at lack of goals

Newcastle winger Damien Duff felt he was denied a clear penalty after the Magpies were frustrated by Charlton this evening.

Duff claimed he was fouled by Souleymane Diawara in the 28th minute of the goalless Premiership draw at St James' Park.

Duff said: 'I certainly don't dive. He caught my heel I think and I've gone down, clean through on goal.

'I said to the ref, but he was having none of it - but that's how it goes.'

Newcastle spurned a number of chances as bottom side Charlton held on to claim a morale-boosting point.

Duff added: 'It's the story of our season so far. We put on a good display and we should have got three points but didn't.'

Midfielder Scott Parker also felt aggrieved that referee Mike Dean did not award the Magpies a spot-kick.

The England international said: 'You see the way we played today - it should have been over. There was a blatant penalty with Duff going down.

'It's not going for us, we have got to dig in and take some great positives.

'We are missing key players but we think our squad is good enough. We thoroughly deserved to win the game, we passed them off the field at times.'

Charlton manager Iain Dowie admitted his side had not been good enough to win the game.

Dowie said: 'We rode our luck in the first half but we have had many a game where the luck has gone against us.

'In the second half we were more resilient and had arguably the best chance of the second half.

'We crept into the game and started to restrict Newcastle to a lot of direct play but we did not play well enough to win. We were not good enough on the ball.'

Newcastle boss Glenn Roeder was a frustrated man after seeing his side pass up a glorious opportunity to claim three Barclays Premiership points against struggling Charlton.

The Magpies failed to make the most of a dominant performance as Giuseppe Rossi hit the bar and makeshift striker Damien Duff peppered Scott Carson's goal without reward.

Roeder said: 'Without doubt, we will take a view that we have dropped two points there when we should not have done.

'That has happened a lot this year, but the important thing is that they are retaining their confidence and playing the football I want them to play in terms of moving the ball quickly through the team.'

Roeder said: 'It was a frustrating game for us. We did everything we could other than stick the ball in the back of the net, which is probably the most difficult thing to do anyway in the game of football.

'The effort which came off the underside of the crossbar just about summed up what is happening to us at the moment in the Premier League.'

Newcastle have now taken just eight points from the 30 they have contested, something chairman Freddy Shepherd insisted in his programme notes they had to improve upon drastically today and against Sheffield United next weekend.

Shepherd said: 'With two sides currently below us coming to St James' Park in the next two games, this is our opportunity to climb up the league. And it is an opportunity we must take.

'We have a lot of quality in our playing squad and have spent good money on players who now have to repay our faith by producing the goods where it matters.'

In addition to the chances which went begging, the Magpies might also have had two penalties for Souleymane Diawara's trip on Duff and handball by Amady Faye.

Roeder said: 'We had a good shout. I have not seen it yet, but I will be really disappointed in the referee's assistant if he has not done his duty and given us a penalty.

'He is the closest person to the incident and he decided it was not a penalty.

'Let me comment when I have seen it, the same as when Damien Duff looked like he was clean through and was clipped and brought down.

'I will have to have a look at that first, but my argument would be initially without seeing it, `why would Damien Duff want to fall over when he is bearing down on the keeper?' It does not make sense.'

Charlton boss Iain Dowie was delighted with a third successive clean sheet which earned a fifth league point of the season.

He said: 'We played very well last week and probably did not get what we deserved; today we played nowhere near as well and maybe could have nicked it at the end.

'Sometimes you have got to show resilience and I felt in the last 40 minutes, we were very, very resilient.

'You cannot have the keeper make five or six saves and them hit the bar and not be relieved. But they might be relieved late in the game when we had good opportunities.

'It is a massive club. I played here many a time and and did not go home with anything, so we have got a point and we will build on that.

'We have had three clean sheets and a victory and two draws in a week is not bad, as long as we build on it next week.'