Michael Appleton was delighted with the “killer instinct” of his Charlton team as they produced a second-half blitz to deepen Reading’s woes with a 4-0 rout.

Chuks Aneke, Tyreece Campbell, Alfie May and Miles Leaburn scored after the restart for the Addicks to ensure the visitors still have not collected a single point on the road this season.

Charlton are flying under former Blackpool, Lincoln and Portsmouth boss Appleton.

Since he was appointed they are unbeaten and have collected 12 points from a possible 18 to move firmly into the Sky Bet League One play-off picture.

“One of the questions we asked ourselves before the game was to make sure we had the same desire to want to go again and play on the front foot,” said head coach Appleton.

“Sometimes when you get teams in the position like Reading are and you go ahead then there can be a tendency to take your foot off the gas a little bit and allow them to get back into the game – we didn’t do that.

“We have to be ruthless and have that killer instinct, that when you see the opposition on the ropes you make sure you use it as a strength rather than a weakness.”

The only negative for Appleton was seeing Aneke forced off with what appeared to be a hamstring injury shortly after his goal.

The powerful forward netted for the first time in more than a year in the league.

“We will know in the next 48 hours whether it is a strain, a pull or just fatigue,” said Appleton. “We weren’t expecting him to get through 90 minutes today but we certainly were hoping we’d be able to bring him off with sufficient time to know he would be available for Tuesday.

“That still might be the case – I’d rather be positive than negative.”

There were no plusses for Royals manager Ruben Selles. They have drawn two and lost 18 of their last 20 matches on the road.

“The first half we showed what we can do,” said Selles. “The start of the second half was really good and then in one action we concede the goal.

“We still created chances to equalise. We didn’t and the second goal turned everything down and we weren’t able to stay in the game.

“I’m disappointed. The performance for 60 minutes was there but we need to be able to do it for 100 minutes.

“We go to every stadium to try and win the game – that’s what we showed today. Unfortunately when we concede that second goal we should be able to stay more in the game.

“We need to be more ruthless in both boxes and need to grow, be more strong with our mindset.

“We need to be better in the transition. For the first 60 minutes we were dynamic and aggressive with our pressure.

“It is now a good moment to play at home and build momentum – because we have been performing well there.”