Middlesbrough 3-0 Charlton Athletic

David Nugent has now scored four times since joining Boro from Leicester in the summer

Goals from David Nugent, Albert Adomah and Daniel Ayala gave Middlesbrough victory as interim Charlton boss Karel Fraeye began his reign with a loss.

Boro dominated from the start but it took until the second half for them to break the deadlock.

The hosts finally took the lead on the hour mark when Nugent poked home from inside the six-yard box.

Adomah then found the net with a deflected shot from outside the box before Ayala headed in a third.

Victory means fourth-placed Boro keep up the pressure on the top three in a week when they have also progressed to the League Cup quarter-finals by beating Manchester United on penalties.

Having been told by United boss Louis Van Gaal that their midweek victory was lucky, that certainly was not the case against a Charlton side that offered little in terms of attacking threat.

Stewart Downing fired over for the hosts early on and Adomah sent a shot just wide, before Diego Fabbrini saw one attempt saved and another go narrowly over, as Boro dominated the first half.

They continued to press after the break, with Fernando Amorebieta seeing an attempt saved by Stephen Henderson and Downing's strike deflected into the side netting.

But Aitor Karanka's men finally took the lead when Nugent pounced on Chris Solly's poorly executed defensive header and, after Zuculini struck the post from 25 yards, Adomah then cut inside from the right before seeing his left-footed strike loop into the net.

Substitute Reza Ghoochannejhad then forced a save out of Dimitrios Konstantopoulos at the other end, but the hosts soon added a third when Ayala headed Nugent's flick-on past Henderson.

The win means Boro have now won seven and drawn two of their last nine games against Charlton who, having sacked head coach Guy Luzon last week, have now lost four games in a row including three consecutive 3-0 defeats.

Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka:

"I said yesterday that it wasn't going to be an easy game because it is difficult to play Manchester United on Wednesday and then play here.

"I thought the first goal was the key. When we scored the game became much easier. It was almost perfect.

"You can always improve but it's difficult to find a fault. We've won, had a clean sheet and didn't pick up injuries or suspensions."

Charlton interim manager Karel Fraeye:

"If it was easy to restore confidence we would not be in this situation. I would agree that it will be a difficult job.

"It's obvious that we have to be more confident on the ball. That was very clear in the first half. We felt we could get a result if we improved in those areas.

"We were irritating them at 0-0 and they had some difficulties with our organisation. They really deserved to win. We competed with them for one hour and afterwards had some difficulties."