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Ian Evatt reckons Wanderers’ attitude was spot-on as they gave him the first FA Cup win of his managerial career.
Goals from Ricardo Santos, Paris Maghoma, Will Forrester and Dion Charles ensured a comfortable passage to the second round, and gave Evatt his first victory in the competition at the sixth time of asking.
“It feels nice, strange, but nice,” he said after the final whistle. “I was delighted. We judge ourselves on our performance and processes, what we are like in possession, but today was more about the attitude. We spoke in the week about how this game would really show me about where they are at as a group, how their mindset is, and they showed me they are in a really good place. Their energy and attitude was first class.
“They made it really hard, credit to them, they got into a mid-to-low block and we had to be patient at times. We had opportunities early in the game and didn’t take them, and it would have been easy to become a little bit panicky.
“It again showed the importance of set play goals and the difference they can make to an outcome, so I am delighted. It is great we didn’t get any injuries, we managed the minutes, managed load, and I’m happy with the players.”
Evatt had not managed to get over the first hurdle in the FA Cup as manager of Barrow or Bolton – and suffered the ignominy of defeat against non-league Stockport County a couple of years ago.
He was at a loss to explain quite why it had taken so long to chalk up a win.
“It is annoying because it is not like I have deliberately changed teams or not taken it seriously,” he said.
“I am really fortunate to have had a lot of success early on as a manager, two promotions, a cup win, a play-off, but this has been one box I haven’t ticked.
“People talk about ‘we have to be careful, the league is our bread and butter’ but it is just nonsense.
“These players want to play football, they want to win. We want to win consistently and if that is an opportunity in the FA Cup, we will take it seriously.
“I am delighted the monkey is off my back, to be honest. I feel slightly relieved. Maybe I can have a cup of tea and watch Match of the Day and relax tonight?
“But that was the message to the players – we didn’t want to be headline news, have that upset against us. We didn’t want to be embarrassed.”
Wanderers made five changes to their side but did not suffer any loss of momentum after three straight wins in the league.
Evatt was pleased with the performance of all the players he brought in, and was also able to rest skipper Ricardo Santos at half time.
He said: “We have a really strong group and I can’t emphasise that enough. When everyone is fit and available it is difficult to pick 11, difficult to pick 18.
“It was great to see Carlos Mendes Gomes back, I thought Paris Maghoma was outstanding at times today. But everybody, Will Forrester, Jack Iredale, everyone was fantastic, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Dan Nlundulu put in a great shift up front.
“I was really pleased for them but it is one game, we have to find the reset button again now for Tuesday.
“I also want to wish them well too. Their staff are from where I am from back home, I grew up with one of their staff and played against him a lot as a kid. Our families know each other.
“They are only a part-way into the job, they have only just got it and it’ll take time, so it is good to see them doing well and I wish them well for the future.”
Wanderers now face a quick turnaround, with a game at Shrewsbury Town to come on Tuesday evening, followed by a home meeting with his former club Blackpool next weekend.
“Every week is going to be interesting now and we know there will be a target on our back,” he said.
“That is because of the way we are playing and what we are doing.
“We have three more games left in this block before we can reset for the internationals and we have to attack each one like we did today.
“That is one ticked off, we can park it until the draw, and the focus goes to our extra game on Tuesday night against Shrewsbury.”
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