Ian Evatt praised his players’ professionalism and attitude as they stayed on a high to go into the international break with another win and a home draw in the next round of the Bristol Street Motors Trophy, writes Pete Oliver.
The Whites – with six changes to their starting line-up – backed up their big League One win over Blackpool last weekend with a seventh successive victory as they out-classed Stockport County at Edgeley Park.
An impressive 2-0 win, secured by two clinical strikes from Jon Dadi Bodvarsson just before half-time, guaranteed the Whites top spot in Group E and a home tie in the last-32 of the competition they won last season.
And Evatt, who was forced to watch the action from the directors’ box as he served a one-match touchline ban, enjoyed what he saw.
“I was really pleased with the players’ attitude and the commitment to the game we played,” said the Wanderers’ boss.
“Knowing that we had already qualified, knowing there was an international break coming and the tough league fixtures we’d had, their attitude to work and to the game was fantastic, first-class, and our fans turning out like that, they deserved that and deserved us to treat it properly.
“It was amazing that our fans travelled in those numbers for this type of game. Great credit to them. It was a pleasure to listen to them singing and watching us play like that, it was actually a really enjoyable evening.
“It was a professional performance and the only critique is that we should have scored more. Other than taking our chances everything went to plan. We are pleased to be in the next round with a home draw to come.”
Stockport had won their previous 13 games in a club-record run but with a much-changed side were no match for a Wanderers’ line-up which made it three wins out of three in the group stage.
Over 1,500 travelling fans were rewarded for their efforts on a night Wanderers could feasibly have matched the eight goals they scored against Manchester United’s U21s in their previous game in the competition to continue their own rich vein of form.
“I think our performance deserved more goals,” added Evatt. “We should have scored more goals, but credit to their keeper who made some great saves.
“They have been on an unbelievable run of games, so it was no mean feat to do what we did tonight. We want to go on that type of run of our own, just keep ticking off the victories and get in that habit of winning consistently.
“We wanted to pay them respect and really go for it and we did that tonight. We wanted to finish this block of games on a high and now we've got a chance to regroup and reset and go again.
“We know there's a lot of hard work to come. There are some big fixtures coming up to Christmas and the Christmas period is always crucial. I'm delighted with the way the players are going but there's lots of improvement to come.”
Watch the manager's post-match interview on Wanderers TV HERE