Trophy match-winner Aaron Collins has his sights set on Blackpool after kick-starting Wanderers’ revival mission, writes Pete Oliver.
Collins’ mid-week double saw the Whites beat Fleetwood Town to book their place in the last 32 of the Bristol Street Motors Trophy.
Ian Evatt’s men now get a breather before resuming their League One campaign at home to Blackpool on Saturday-week.
And Collins hopes the victory over Fleetwood can be a stepping stone to another positive result against the Seasiders to repair the damage of last weekend’s heavy defeat at Stockport County.
“It's winning at the end of the day and especially after Saturday no matter what game it is, it's a reaction and you go and win,” Collins, whose injury-time strike sealed a 2-1 success and top spot in Group D, told Wanderers TV.
“We got the win, we’re through to the next round and individually it was nice to get some goals as well. We can go into the next few days now with a bit more positive mindset.
“We know we need to react after what happened on Saturday. That will be in the back of our minds going into Blackpool little bit, but that was a little bit of a reaction on Tuesday night and now we need to carry that on going into Blackpool.”
The 5-0 loss at Stockport was a backward step after six wins in the previous eight league games had lifted Ian Evatt’s men into the top six.
Wanderers are now a point outside the play-off zone and Collins is eager to make amends against one of their local rivals to kick-start another run in what is sure to be a big occasion at the Toughsheet Community Stadium.
“I was here last year for the Blackpool away game. I saw the fans there and the crowd was quality,” added the Wanderers’ frontman, who has now netted five goals across three different competitions this season.
“Hopefully going into Blackpool we can put that Stockport result behind us, get everyone behind us; fans, players, staff, everyone in the building and go into Blackpool and try and get a reaction.
“We will be working to get into the right mindset and have a reaction and the main thing is go and win. It (losing badly at Stockport) hurts a lot, that's everyone in the changing room and staff-wise as well and it's frustrating.
“We want to do it for the fans and for everyone involved in the club. We want to go and win these derbies to put everyone on a high. No-one wants to be on a down. It's annoying losing a game, but when it's a derby it means even more.
“We went from sixth, and could have gone third or fourth, and ended up 10th. We know how tight the league is and if we can go and win a few games on the bounce and have a nice little run going into Christmas and get ourselves up there going into Boxing Day, with four games in 10 days from then, you never know what's going to happen.
“We could put ourselves back in that top six or even higher going into the New Year and then it's all to play for.”