Charlton are still searching for their first win over South London rivals Millwall in over 18 years after a stalemate at the Valley on Saturday afternoon, writes Josh Fordham.

The players and crowd did not spark into life until after half time but both sides showed no clinical edge in front of goal.

Charlton will feel like they should have snatched the points in the dying embers of the game when George Tucadean lifted the ball over the approaching David Forde in the fifth minute of injury time, but the striker could not slot home under pressure from covering defender Alan Dunne.

Addicks manager Bob Peeters said: “It was game ball. It would have been brilliant if he had scored that goal. The game was finished.

“If Tucadean had put the ball away we would have been celebrating.”

Neither side showed enough to merit going into the half-time break with a lead as both defences snuffed out anything that came their way in a scrappy opening 45 minutes.

The Addicks’ best chance came after only six minutes when lone striker Igor Vetokele brilliantly held up play and shrugged off a challenge. He spread the ball to Cousins who put in a cross back to Vetokele who was unmarked in the box but couldn’t find the target.

The home side failed to take advantage of a flurry of set pieces mid-way through the first period as three Gudmundsson corners in quick succession were easily cleared by the Lions defence.

Ben Haim and Andre Bikey restricted the away side to long range efforts for most of the half and Millwall didn’t get their first shot on target until the 30th minute.

Former Charlton loanee Lee Martin whipped a ball into the back post and Ed Upson rose above Chris Solly but could only direct his header into the hands of Charlton keeper Nick Pope.

Millwall’s best chance came in stoppage time when Martin again found space on the right and fired a ball between keeper and defence but it missed everybody to go out for a goal kick.

The Addicks seemed to come alive after the break and had an appeal for a penalty turned down after Johnnie Jackson’s shot appeared to strike the arm of a defender in the 51st minute.

Millwall had the ball in the back of the net just moments earlier when Scott McDonald poked home from 10 yards but the whistle had long since gone for a handball.

Callum Harriott forced a good save from Forde in the Millwall goal after the Addicks’ substitute tried to sneak Cousins’ cross through his legs in the 65th minute.

Nick Pope was forced into a wonderful save low down to his right after Jermaine Easter broke free down the right in the 81st minute and Ricardo Fuller almost came back to haunt his old club in the 85th minute by deflecting McDonald’s shot and almost wrong-footing Pope.

The last 10 minutes were frantic. Millwall were screaming for a penalty after Easter went down in the box from a Bikey challenge while the Addicks were frustrated at a lack of advantage following a foul on Vetokele when Tucadean was through on goal, with the striker going on to spurn the best chance of the game in the dying seconds.

The point saw Charlton slip to ninth, though they remain just two points outside the play-off places.

Charlton: Pope, Solly, Bikey-Amougou, Ben Haim, Fox, Gudmundsson (Wilson 88mins), Jackson (Tucadean 83mins), Buyens (Harriott 27mins), Cousins, Coquelin, Vetokele. Subs not used: Phillips, Gomez, Bulot, Onyewu.