Bartlett goal sends West Brom to the bottom

WBA... 0 Charlton... 1: West Brom regained their pride but were plunged closer to the Premiership relegation trapdoor as a Shaun Bartlett goal earned victory for Charlton at The Hawthorns.

Gary Megson had described his side's performance in the FA Cup defeat at Watford as the worst for two-and-a-half years and he certainly obtained a positive response from his players.

The Baggies dominated proceedings in terms of possession and striker Jason Roberts was a constant menace with his pace and aggression up front.

But all season they have lacked the quality to provide the right sort of ammunition for the front players and that lack of creativity - despite the promptings of Jason Koumas - again proved costly.

All the determination and endeavour in the world will only count for so much at top flight level and a smash and grab raid led to Bartlett pinching the points.

It leaves Albion bottom of the table following West Ham's defeat of Blackburn, four points adrift of fourth from bottom Bolton.

Charlton were far from inspiring but hard to break down with centre-backs Richard Rufus and Mark Fish standing firm despite the efforts of Roberts.

Albion, with only one win in their previous 17 league matches, dominated the opening 45 minutes in terms of possession.

But Megson's side created only one chance worthy of the name in the first half. That came after 36 minutes when Ronnie Wallwork was first to react to a Koumas centre. His header from six yards out contained plenty of power but Charlton goalkeeper Dean Kiely was equal to the task and managed to parry his effort.

On 59 minutes the home fans were stunned when Bartlett met a free-kick from Claus Jensen and his header appeared to take a deflection before finding its way past Russell Hoult.

WEST BROM: Hoult, Moore (McInnes 52), Gilchrist, Gregan, Adam Chambers, Udeze, Johnson, Wallwork, Koumas, Dichio (Dobie 77), Roberts. Subs Not Used: Murphy, Clement, Sigurdsson.

CHARLTON: Kiely, Rufus, Fish, Fortune, Kishishev, Powell, Parker, Euell, Jensen (Konchesky 79), Bartlett, Lisbie (Johansson 85). Subs Not Used: Rachubka, Bart-Williams, El Khalej. Booked: Parker, Powell. Goals: Bartlett 60.

Referee: A D'Urso (Essex).