READING FC boss Jose Gomes believes his side need to find consistency if they are to move up the Skybet Championship table.

Royals fell to a 2-0 home defeat to high-flying Charlton Athletic on Saturday, leaving them 16th in the table with seven points from their opening six games.

With the international break meaning Reading do not play until visiting Middlesbrough on Saturday, September 14, Gomes is keen to utilise the time with his squad.

He commented: "Everybody wants to get a good result before the international break; it’s never good to finish before the international break with no points.

"It’s a long time before we play again and get the chance to show a different behaviour.

"So the word is consistency. The first two games not so good. After that we did very well, five games without defeat. And against Charlton, we played well first half and bad in the second half.

"Consistency is what we must work for, what we must fight for."

He continued: "We played eight games in August, some games we had just two days to recover. It’s the Championship schedule. Now the players must rest and spend some time with their families for the next few days.

"It’s important that they refresh their minds and bring a different kind of energy for the first training back.

"Because we must use this space in the fixtures to improve things. We must give more from ourselves to get the three points, because in this league, if you relax for one second, any team can destroy any team.

"As a group we need to find consistency. We have a long way in front of us in this division, we are behind our targets – but we have a lot of games to make that up."