Liverpool's captain for the day had been summoned from the turf in the 89th minute, trudging to the bench to a standing ovation with his side trailing, only for the hosts to be awarded a penalty within a few seconds of his substitution. This was the opportunity he had craved all afternoon, a chance to score in front of the Kop. Instead, with the home support bellowing "bring back Fowler", he had been forced to sit placidly on the bench as Harry Kewell hoisted the home side to parity. The fairytale finale had fallen flat.
If there are regrets at the parting of the ways, Fowler should still look back on a glittering career which has yielded 183 goals in 369 Liverpool games with real satisfaction. The Champions League final could yet offer him a more productive farewell though, in truth, he was as off the pace here as his team-mates whose minds are clearly fixed on Athens. The 32-year-old's best opportunity was sliced high and wide from inside the six-yard box when, in his pomp, the net would have bulged. "Today was for Robbie," said Rafael Benítez. "It was bad luck, but good luck for the team with the penalty. But, as a team, that was not a good performance."
This was a game of goodbyes and Charlton should have departed the Premiership with a second win here in 53 years. The visitors, already condemned, had played with real freedom and, scintillating against slack opponents, should have won. Matt Holland's first league goal of the campaign had eased them ahead after 80 seconds after Javier Mascherano's mistake. Darren Bent, with a thumped 16th of the season after the shaky Daniele Padelli had blocked Ben Thatcher's attempt, restored that advantage with 18 minutes remaining.
Between times Alexandre Song struck a post and Zheng Zhi might have run amok, the Chinese forward twice missing from point-blank range with Liverpool players aghast at the time and space he had been offered. Yet, that both chances were fluffed was in keeping with Charlton's slipshod campaign. Had either fallen to the excellent Bent then the visitors might have retreated to the Championship truly encouraged.
Alan Pardew will meet his board in the next few days with Bent's future sure to be on the agenda. "I'll need to discuss certain issues with certain players," he said. "It's important that we restructure for next year." Charlton will have to contend with the reality that Bent will surely leave. He could yet feature more regularly in this arena next term, with Benítez a long-standing admirer of the England forward, though such potential transfers will wait until after Athens.
"Maybe my players were thinking about the final," added Benítez. The club's supporters were likewise voicing their furious disapproval here at the lack of clarity offered by the club's chief executive, Rick Parry, concerning the destination of some 7,000 of the Merseysiders' 17,000 allocation of tickets for the European Cup final. There was a large protest outside the main entrance before kick-off, with banners demanding "Parry the cheat must go" unfurled on the Kop. This club's hierarchy are unused to such ferocious criticism.
Those frustrations were merely exacerbated by the home side's stodgy display, Alvaro Arbeloa's horrible early miss with Fowler begging for a square pass having set a sloppy tone. Xabi Alonso scuffed them level just after the hour mark but it took Madjid Bougherra's mystifying hand-ball and Kewell's penalty, the Australian having earlier struck the crossbar, to edge Liverpool above Arsenal into third.