Les Reed took charge of Charlton for the first time since succeeding Iain Dowie, who was sacked earlier in the week, with the former Football Association technical drector looking for the result which would lift the Addicks off the bottom of the Premiership table.

Reading had shrugged off a five-game losing streakto beat Tottenham 3-1 at the Madejski Stadium last week and unsurprisingly Royals boss Steve Coppell made no changes to his starting line-up.