Lee Bowyer revealed what he said to his players at half time during their 2-0 win over Reading.

Going into the break goalless, largely thanks to a number of fine saves from goalkeeper Dillon Phillips, the Royals looked to be dominating the encounter.

Following the interval and some words from the Charlton manager, the Addicks seized control and got their reward with a Jonathan Leko strike and a Lyle Taylor penalty as they maintain their unbeaten start to the season.

“You’ve got a chance of going second, maybe top, don’t let it pass you by,” Bowyer told his men.

“Leave everything out there, make the right decisions, win your individual battles and I’m sure you’ll win.

“We were taking too many touches (in the first half), passing it across the back, we were too slow.

“Once we picked the pace up and passed quickly like we’re good at, we carved through them

“We got in and around their box so many times and we should’ve made it count, we should’ve put it to bed with half hour to go.”

Charlton leapfrogged Leeds United into second after table toppers Swansea won 1-0 at Elland Road.

Leeds and Swansea were predicted by many to be towards the summit of the Championship this season, but few predicted that Lee Bowyer’s men would be keeping them company.

One person who felt they were capable of not just competing, but winning, was Bowyer himself.

“We’re fearless, they’re (players) in that place and zone where they believe they’ll win every game.

“I make them believe they’ll win every game.

“We had a bit of luck first half, but over the 90 minutes we deserved the win.

“It could’ve been four or five had it not been for a couple of bad decisions in the final third, we could’ve scored four or five comfortably.

“But another clean sheet again, they were outstanding, back to front I thought we were excellent.”

Charlton welcome Birmingham to The Valley on September 14th after the international break.