Stoke City boss Michael O’Neill has insisted his side will not get carried away after a convincing 3-1 win over Charlton moved them four points clear of the relegation zone.

The Potters, who have won four of their last six, climbed above the Addicks into 20th in the Championship thanks to goals from James McClean, Tom Ince and Nick Powell.

It proved to be a damaging defeat for Charlton as they slipped to 21st in the table after Huddersfield Town ran out 2-0 winners at home to Queens Park Rangers.

Despite recent form inspiring an encouraging turnaround since taking charge in November 2019, former Northern Ireland boss O’Neill has refused to get ahead of himself.

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He said: “We're not getting carried away because we lost last week and it was a bit doom and gloom I felt, but we've won three games out of four.

“I was saying to the players today that, if you look over the last 10 or 11 games, our form would put us in the top three of the Championship. But obviously we're coming from a difficult position.

“Look, it's nice to have that cushion above Wigan, but as we saw, that can quickly disappear. We're not in control of the results the other teams get so we make sure that we go into Wednesday's game [against Preston] focused on three points and try and add to this start to the week.

“As we've said to the players, having come into the Derby game and lost, that we have to get a little bit of a run again, so it was really important to win the game today with the games that lie ahead.”

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Although Ben Purrington cancelled out McClean’s opening goal on the stroke of half-time, Charlton were largely second-best to Stoke throughout.

It was less than a minute into the restart when Tom Ince replenished the hosts’ lead before former Manchester United midfielder Nick Powell added a third with 24 minutes remaining.

O’Neill gave credit to his front four’s performance, including 20-year-old Tyrese Campbell who was a doubt heading into the crunch clash down at the bottom.

He added: “He didn't really get any chances today that I can think of note but he's a handful, and I thought the front three [Ince, Powell and McClean] were very good. I thought Nick Powell had an excellent game, in terms of being that link between Joe [Allen] and Sam [Clucas] and the front three as well.

“As I say, there were a lot of positive performances.”