West Ham held at Charlton

West Ham followed up their UEFA Europa League scare at Birkirkara with a goalless friendly at Charlton Athletic on Saturday.

Slaven Bilic’s men were left to rely on penalties to come through their second qualifying round tie on Thursday, losing 1-0 on the night in Malta, and a much-changed side failed to return the Upton Park outfit to winning ways two days later.

Chances were few and far between in the first half, but Regan Charles-Cook almost put Charlton in front with a lob shortly after half-hour mark – the effort dropping just wide of the target with the Championship club’s former goalkeeper Darren Randolph beaten.

Tony Watt then blazed over the crossbar from a promising position two minutes before the interval, before squandering another great opportunity after the restart.

West Ham rarely troubled their London rivals but Nick Pope produced an excellent save to keep out a 25-yard Diafra Sakho strike.

Randolph was soon called back into action to make a double save from ex-West Ham man Alou Diarra, before a raft of substitutions disrupted the flow of the match, which petered out to a conclusion.