Ian Evatt wants his players to show the fans ‘blood, sweat and tears’ to get them behind his team in their quest to keep climbing the table, writes Pete Oliver.
Wanderers’ Boxing Day return against Barnsley could see Evatt’s men move into the top six if they add to the point they brought back from League One leaders Wycombe last time out.
The Whites were again superbly supported on the road at Adams Park and Evatt is demanding another performance full of fight and character to get a bumper Toughsheet Stadium Crowd on side for the first leg of a big home double-header.
“We just need get to that level of basics we showed on Friday; the energy, attitude and intensity,” insisted the boss. “When we play with those things we’re a tough team to play against. Then we can start to layer in some of the technical aspects, but for now I think our fans just want to see some blood sweat and tears and hopefully we can show that on Boxing Day.
“The support we got from the fans (at Wycombe) was hugely positive and really helped the team get a result. Fingers crossed, we can have the same on Boxing Day and we can have a positive environment because that helps the players win and we all want the players to win.
“Nobody wants to see this club lose. Outside of our fan base they probably, do but not our supporter base or people that work here. We all want the same thing and creating a positive environment and having the players playing with that attitude and energy can really help us.
“We can't sugar coat it. That helps. But we also know we have to help ourselves and we help ourselves by playing with that energy, that attitude, that intensity that we know we can do and if we do that the fans will respond and back us like they have done many times.
“It's a joint effort. It's difficult to win football matches, it really is, and we shouldn't take it for granted. Doing things together is what this club has been all about in the past, and still is all about, and when we can do it together we create good performances and good victories, so let's we can hope do that on Boxing Day.”
Wanderers – who follow the visit of ninth-placed Barnsley with another home game against Lincoln City on Sunday – are looking to continue to build and add further momentum to a current run of eight wins and three draws from their last 14 matches in League One.
That sequence of results has helped them recover from a slow start which brought just one win in the opening five games and Evatt believes his side is still capable of making a serious promotion push with four fixtures of the festive period still to go until the half-way point of the season.
“The first half (of the season) hasn't gone to plan, but it hasn't been disastrous either,” admitted Evatt, who will have defenders Ricardo Almeida Santos, George Johnston and Jordi Osei-Tutu back in the squad against Barnsley but will be missing the suspended Jay Matete.
“It probably sits somewhere in between. For us, and our standard and our level and what we've been held accountable for, it's been under par, which is fine. We understand that there are a lot of games to go and there's a lot of football to be played and we're confident come the end of this season we can still get the job done, which we all know what that meant for us.
“Last season we had a really good Christmas period and it set us up and we need to have the same this year. I remember not so long ago (2020/21) we were sat 19th at the end of January/early February and we managed to win automatic promotion.
“Our start hasn't been anything like as disastrous as that one. I know we’re capable of good runs, I know we're capable of long runs, and it's down to us now to try and make sure that happens.”
Watch the manager’s full pre-match interview on Wanderers TV