Premiership: West Bromwich Albion 1 - 2 Charlton Athletic

Danny Murphy's arrival from Liverpool a year ago was meant to signal Charlton's transition from Premiership mid-packers to a club who could break into the top six. But initial problems settling in London, and his own admission that he felt disappointed to be missing out on his former club's incredible Champions League adventure, meant he took a bit of time to win over the Addicks fans. This season, though, with Murphy approaching his best, Charlton are finally giving every indication of achieving that breakthrough.

His two goals maintained their position as Chelsea's closest rivals, giving more hope to clubs like West Brom that it is possible to compete in this money-saturated Premiership. Alan Curbishley has claimed 'doing a Charlton' must now be in the dictionary, and Bryan Robson dreams of staying for 14 years, just like Curbishley has done at the Valley. On this performance, though, Robson and his team clearly still have a long way to go before they can start drawing comparisons with Charlton.

For the second consecutive Premiership match here, West Brom departed to the sound of jeers. Two weeks ago it had been at the final whistle after conceding an injury-time winner to Wigan.

This time it was at half-time, when they departed trailing to those Murphy goals, having failed themselves to do anything to suggest they were capable of mounting a challenge.

Murphy had stroked Charlton ahead in the eighth minute from a penalty awarded after Steve Watson had scythed down Jerome Thomas. His second, in the 31st minute, was the result of a mixture of good luck and Dennis Rommedahl's pace. Paul Robinson launched himself into a crunching challenge on Luke Young only to see the ball deflect off Jonathan Greening and into Rommedahl's path. The Dane sprinted away and expertly cut the ball back for Murphy to slot into an empty net.

Robson must have read the riot act, because it was a totally different Albion who emerged after the interval. Albion reduced the deficit in the 51st minute when Curtis Davies, their new £3m signing from Luton, headed past Stephan Andersen. Try as they might, though, they could not again break down Charlton, who, with seven minutes remaining, sacrificed Murphy and replaced him with a defender.

The decision did not go down well with Murphy, who got a ticking off from the fourth official when he moved to the touchline to shout encouragement at his team. At least Charlton fans can't complain any more that Murphy is not committed.

Man of the match: Danny Murphy - Two crucial goals.