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Wanderers completed a taxing week on the road in style with victory against Charlton Athletic – and Ian Evatt reckons his whole squad deserves credit.
First-half goals from Randell Williams and Dion Charles earned a full-deserved three points for the Whites, who move level on points with second-placed Oxford United.
After travelling more than 750 miles in trips to The Valley and Wycombe, Evatt’s side have answered many of the critics who questioned their promotion credentials over the first quarter of the campaign.
And Evatt says the upturn in form has been a team effort spread across his whole squad.
“It has been a really good and positive week, to win the two games away from home back-to-back, with all the travelling, and the opposition we were facing is huge credit to the players and takes togetherness,” he said.
“It takes people to buy into what we are doing. Some players who haven’t featured are there supporting the ones who are today. The ones who are staring know that the standards are sky high.
“When players get their opportunities they know that they have to produce a very high standard.
“I thought first half we were outstanding. We could and should have scored more but you don’t see teams come here and control games like that very often.
“Second half, as I had said, they are a dangerous team. They made it a transitional game, they went gung-ho and we needed to be clinical with the ball when we were in those transitions. And we created so many opportunities, we looked aggressive, front foot, and then we defended when we needed to as well, got the numbers back.
“I am delighted with the week and the results and performances we have got – but it is only a week and we know things in football can change pretty quickly, so we won’t be getting ahead of ourselves here. We just reset and get ready for an FA Cup match next week.”
Wanderers had won their last two games but found both results had also come with a level of criticism over the second-half performance.
Few travelling fans at Charlton would have been dissatisfied with what they had seen, but Evatt – ever the hard taskmaster – felt the margin of victory should have been greater.
“I think we should have won more comfortably but with nearly 2,000 fans here, after all the travelling they did on Tuesday, is an unbelievable effort,” he said.
“The way they backed the players, supported the team, the noise and volume they created, there is a huge amount of togetherness. I know I keep harping on about it, but it means everything in football, the culture within your club is everything.
“We have worked ever so hard to build that top to bottom, from Sharon and the board right the way down, there is a connection with the town, the community, the fanbase. And when you have that connection it is almost the perfect storm. We need to continue with it.”
Wanderers move on to the FA Cup next weekend, hosting National League Solihull Moors at the Toughsheet Stadium and looking to progress into the second round of the competition for the first time since 2019.
Despite being on a strong run in the league, Evatt says he will be putting full focus on avoiding an upset.
He said: “I don’t think the FA Cup should ever come at the ‘wrong time’ – we are very much looking forward to the game next weekend and we’re very respectful of Solihull. I managed in that league myself and I know what those teams are capable of, Solihull were always a difficult opponent for me.
“It is going to be a difficult challenge but one we have to relish.
“The players have had a really tough week but they should enjoy tonight, and the weekend, then come Monday morning we start work again and pushing for improvement.
“That it the thing for us, we have to get on the training ground, stay humble and keep pushing forward.
“But the fact we are getting bodies back all the time – Rico has come back and made a huge difference, so has Paris, we have Carlos back right next week, we have Zac back next week, the squad is really strong, so it is just about making sure we pick the right team for the right opponent.”
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