Charlton may have failed to score for the third successive match on Sunday, but manager Alan Curbishley was delighted with his side's battling point against fast-fading title hopefuls Leeds United.

Curbishley was forced into some last-minute team changes as Mark Fish suffered a knee injury in training 24 hours before kick-off, and then feared the worst as Leeds lined up with an extremely attacking formation.

But an inspired performance from Addicks goalkeeper Dean Kiely and Portuguese central defender Jorge Costa kept the home side at bay, with Robbie Fowler's 50th-minute shot against the post being the closest Leeds came to breaking the stalemate.

Curbishley said: "As soon as we saw their teamsheet, and the number of forwards on it, we knew it would be a tough game and I'm delighted with a point.

"We had to work ever so hard, and perhaps because we were working so hard to contain them we never really got going ourselves. But it's a valuable point and yet again, despite our injuries and forced changes, we haven't allowed a bad result in our last game to linger."

The pattern of the match was set from the opening minutes, when Kiely was forced to palm aside an opportunistic effort from Eirik Bakke, and Leeds comfortably dominated much of the possession.

With Fowler and Mark Viduka up front, and Harry Kewell and Robbie Keane on the two wings, there seemed to be danger wherever Charlton's defence looked, but there were few clear-cut openings, and Viduka missed the target twice when he did manage to muscle his way past Costa.

Charlton's disciplined strategy left Jason Euell and the recalled Mathias Svensson hopelessly isolated, and the Addicks' best chance of the first half was a free-kick from Chris Bart-Williams, which whistled past the top corner.

A mistake from Gary Kelly almost let Svensson in near the end of the half, but Graham Stuart's hurried left-footed shot was deflected wide off Ian Harte.

It was more of the same in the second half, although Leeds should have gone ahead after five minutes when Kewell cut the ball back to Fowler, only to see the former Liverpool man dally over his shot which eventually brushed the outside of the right post.

Fowler squandered another great scoring opportunity in the 67th minute, as the forward drove his shot across the face of the goal.

As the game entered its final stages, captain Mark Kinsella made his first appearance for almost three months after injury, and Charlton almost nicked all three points when Euell fired home on the turn. But the linesman's flag was raised and Curbishley had to settle for a much-deserved point.

This Saturday, Chelsea are the visitors to The Valley.