And the 19-year-old forward was pleased to play his part after coming from the bench with the scores level.

Royals defender Gabriel Osho had put through his own net before Josh Barrett levelled for the visitors. Osho was then sent off in the second half, but when Tom Heardman missed a penalty it looked as though it could be another frustrating night for Peter Beardsley's side.

But then Charman stepped off the bench in the 71st minute to score twice, either side of Callum Roberts' excellent strike.

"Tom (Heardman) had been running them all game and after the red card, just a bit of fresh legs made the difference, I think," Charman told nufc.co.uk.

"It's nice to get a win. I've been out for a few weeks with injury and stuff so it's been a bit difficult watching them losing games. You just want to get back and try to help out as much as you can, so I'm glad I'm back in the team and we're winning again."

The returning Massadio Haïdara was part of a strong Magpies XI which also included Henri Saivet, Jack Colback, Jamie Sterry and Freddie Woodman.

Charman's first goal came six minutes after his introduction and nudged Newcastle ahead. Sterry's right-wing cross was begging to be converted and Charman duly obliged.

"When Sterry gets the ball, you always know that he's going to look for you and more often than not it's going to find you," said the scorer. "You just have to work a bit of space and focus on the finish, because the ball's always going to come in."

His second, and United's fourth, came in stoppage time after a goalmouth scramble.

"The first few times, I was kicking about and didn't know where (the ball) was," he admitted. "It just dropped for me, I tried to lift it up a bit and thankfully it went in.

"Sometimes I've played well and not scored; sometimes it's just better to score and play decent, and hopefully I did both (on Monday).

"We've got quite a few games coming up and I think the best thing about it is how well we played, not just the result. I thought there was just one team in it and in the end, it was a comfortable win."