West Ham United 0 Charlton Athletic 0: West Ham forget to add champagne touch as Sheringham's party falls flat

As a 40th birthday party this was about as flat as they come. It was as if the catering failed to turn up, the venue had a lapsed liquor licence - and the only guest was that boring bloke from work who invited himself. Still, Teddy Sheringham got 45 minutes and did, indeed, come closest to scoring. Only an instinctive one-handed save by goalkeeper Thomas Myhre from his alert half-volley prevented the 345th goal of the striker's 24-year career and in his 861st appearance.

"If that had gone in it would have made it a perfect day," said Sheringham afterwards. If he had found the net he would have pushed on his own mark as the top division's oldest-ever scorer. But he has some way to go to overtake John Burridge (43 years, four months and 26 days when appearing for Manchester City in 1995) as the oldest player to play in the Premiership.

Alan Pardew, the West Ham manager, had little doubt where the blame lay for the paucity of the match. "I'm incensed about the way the game was refereed," he said, criticising the performance of Rob Styles for "not encouraging the game". The two had words midway through the first-half, with Styles coming over to the touch-line, and spoke again after the final whistle.

Pardew's attack appeared more than a bit perverse. It was a staccato encounter but Styles was largely unobtrusive with just one yellow card shown. That went to Charlton's Luke Young who later limped off with a twisted left ankle and left the stadium on crutches. The injury makes him a serious doubt for the FA Cup quarter-final replay with Middlesbrough in nine days time and he may also fret further about his World Cup chances. "It's a big blow for us but a bigger blow for him. I just hope it isn't that serious," said the Charlton manager, Alan Curbishley.

The winner of that Cup fixture meets West Ham in the last four, of course, and maybe the weight of that played heavily on the minds of both sets of players especially as it means an automatic path to European competition.

Not so long ago both would have held aspirations of achieving that through their league positions but that has faded of late. Curbishley - who was tipped by Pardew, his former team-mate and player, as the next England manager - admitted being delighted with the draw after his team had been pinned back by the end.

Apart from Sheringham's shot there was a header cleared off the line from Bobby Zamora and a last-ditch tackle on Yossi Benayoun - who also headed over - as he shaped to shoot. The two interceptions were made by Radostin Kishishev and Curbishley nodded that tackling and clearances were the theme of the day.

But it was scratchy stuff. The sun shone after the April showers. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon stroll. Unfortunately, for long periods both sides followed that cue. Dean Ashton hooked one over, another by Marlon Harewood was deflected before Styles changed the ball. It too was flat.

Sheringham's first touch, after replacing an out-of-sorts Ashton at half-time, was to deftly chest the ball into the path of Benayoun who ran on to stab a shot narrowly wide. It was a rare shard of promise and although Charlton forced four corners in quick succession, and Shaka Hislop spilled Darren Bent's shot while Marcus Bent ballooned a volley over they were pushed back. "It was all set for Teddy," said Curbishley. Fortunately for him there was no icing on the birthday cake.

West Ham (4-4-2): Hislop; Ferdinand, Collins, Gabbidon, Konchesky; Benayoun, Reo-Coker (Zamora, 76), Mullins, Etherington; Ashton (Sheringham, h-t), Harewood (Katan, 86). Substitutes not used: Walker (gk), Scaloni.

Charlton Athletic (4-4-2): Myhre; Young (Spector, 62), Hreidarsson, Perry, Powell; Rommedahl (Thomas, 70), Kishishev, Holland, Hughes; M Bent (Bothroyd, 86), D Bent. Substitutes not used: Andersen (gk), Euell.

Referee: R Styles (Hampshire).

Booked: Charlton Young.

Man of the match: Collins.

Attendance: 34,753.

Teddy's life and times

* 2.4.66 Born Highams Park

* 1984 Signs for Millwall. In 1988, they win Second Division championship.

* July 1991 Signs for Nottingham Forest for £2m

* August 1992 Signs for Tottenham for £2.1m

* 1993 Makes England debut, against Poland.

* 1996 Helps England reach semi-finals of Euro 96

* June 1997 Signs for Man Utd for £3.5m

* May 1999 Wins treble with United, scoring in the FA Cup final against Newcastle and the European Cup final against Bayern Munich

* May 2001 Signs two-year contract for Tottenham

* June 2002 Comes on as a substitute for four of England's five games

* June 2003 Signs for Portsmouth

* July 2004Signs for West Ham United