Obviously it is difficult to criticise a team which won 12 games on the trot earlier in the year, but this run of disappointing performances does not augur well for the tougher season ahead.

Yes, Charlton could be a bit jaded and in truth have had little to play for except pride in the last couple of games. But with players out to stake their claims for inclusion in a squad which must be swelled by the manager using the cheque book wisely and widely during the summer, it must rank as one of the team's poorest shows of the season.

Albion's desire, of course, was intense and spurred on by a bumper 22,000-plus crowd they attacked in earnest but wasted several clear-cut chances. Carl Tiler dithered over his back-pass to almost allow James Quinn the chance of scoring, Richard Sneekes then dragged his shot wide when a goal looked certain, while central defenders Matt Carbon and Tony Butler both missed with headers when well-placed following free-kicks.

Charlton at last showed a glimmer of their true form when George Santos was forced to clear off his line and then Andy Hunt hit the post.

But Sneekes, West Brom's flying Dutchman, then atoned in the 65th minute for fluffing his gilt-edged first-half chance when he took a pass from Des Lyttle, turned superbly on the edge of the area to leave Shaun Newton helpless, before drilling a low shot into the bottom corner of Dean Kiely's net.

For Kiely it was particularly disappointing because it deprieved him of one last chance of breaking Nicky Johns' club record of clean sheets in a season.

Albion, spurred by that goal, steamed forward and five minutes later clinched not only victory, but their place in Division One next season when the evergreen Bob Taylor headed home.

Meanwhile, Charlton's new home first-team strip, being sponsored in the Premiership by Redbus Investments, should be on sale by the middle of next month.

But the new away yellow strip will not be available until September. Prices for both will be announced at a later date.

Assistant manager Keith Peacock said: "The psychological edge that you lose when you know you have nothing to play for is quite amazing.

"That, combined with the fact that our last two opponents have had everything to play for, has been responsible for our dip in results.

"Ipswich a fortnight ago, and West Brom last Sunday, were both teams that were fighting for their lives at opposite ends of the table and those are not really the kind of teams you want to face when you've got the champ-ionship sewn up.

"Having said that, we prepared for both games in the right way and were a shade unfortunate. Andy Hunt hit the post on Sunday and if that had gone in I think we would have taken a lot of beating.

"It's easy to look at our last seven games and say that we haven't managed a win. But I've said all along that it's no good isolating certain periods of the campaign because in our case especially, there will always be a period that cancels out the less fruitful spells.

"We may not have won in our last seven attempts but we did string 12 together from November through until March.

If we'd have won six and lost six instead during that time and then won our last six of the season, everyone would be saying how strongly we finished as well as questioning our mis-season form.

"You can't pick and choose when your wins are going to come. You can only be judged on the 46 games which make up a football season and from those games we amassed the most points out of any club. We would have loved to have broken even more records and gone after Sunderland's points total for Divsion One, but that wasn't to be.

"Our ultimate aim from the start of the season was to get promoted and we have achieved that in some style.

"I think it's easy to forget what we've achieved. Manchester City have put a fabulous run together to eat into our lead but they still had to wait until the last day of the season to secure a place in the Premiership.

"Ipswich are another good side and they still don't know in which division they'll be plying their trade next season.

"I hope you have all enjoyed keeping in touch with events at The Valley throughout this highly memorable season and it has been a pleasure for me to keep you posted on what's been happening.

"Hopefully, this column will continue next season when it will be even more exciting with us in Premiership."