Ian Evatt was left frustrated by Wanderers’ FA Cup exit but pleased to avoid any further damage as the Whites stay focused on a promotion push, writes Pete Oliver.
A 2-1 loss at Walsall ended Wanderers’ Cup interest in round one as the League Two side advanced thanks to a last-minute winner.
The Whites are currently without a number of key men through injury and Evatt took no chances with defensive talisman Ricardo Almeida Santos as the former skipper sat out his first game of the season.
Santos was missed as the Sadlers came from behind to secure an eighth home win of season but should now be refreshed and raring to go when Evatt’s men look to resume their progress up the League One table at Stockport County next Saturday.
“It's frustrating to lose, disappointing to lose, but we will go again and the main thing for me today is that we haven't got any injuries, which at the minute we're really up against,” said the Wanderers’ boss, who has overseen six wins from the last eight league games to take his side into the top six.
“The league is the most important thing for us this season. We've got ourselves back in a decent position. We can't afford to lose any more players, not in this spell of games we've got coming up, so we decided to rest and rotate a little bit.
“Games like that today, you probably need your Ricos and Toally (Eoin Toal) to defend from direct play and on the set-plays and we didn't have it. We gave it our best shot but, unfortunately, we didn't come out on the right side of it.
“We’re never happy to lose games but we've got to focus now on a big league game next Saturday, get everyone we've got available in optimum condition for that game and do the best we can to get a really positive result and then we can reset and hopefully at the end of the next (international) break we have some bodies back.”
Wanderers had their opportunities to avoid a minor upset at the Bescot Stadium and led through a superb Josh Sheehan free-kick early in the second half.
But four minutes later they allowed ex-Wanderers’ defender Liam Gordon to level and Walsall – riding high in League Two – to build up a renewed head of steam and book their place in round two thanks to a last-minute winner from the impressive Jamie Jellis.
“In the first half-an-hour in particular we created a lot of good chances and should have really put the game to bed in that spell,” Evatt told Wanderers TV.
“On Tuesday night (at Stevenage) we took those chances. Today we didn't and then in the second half they made it difficult for us. They put it right on us, they were very direct and had a lot of set plays, very similar to what we faced on Tuesday and we didn't do the basics. The goals we conceded are very disappointing.
“I just said to the players that when you do score and you get yourself ahead in cup ties, or any game, that isn't the time then to relax and back off. It's the time to put your foot down and go again I don't think we did that.
“We allowed them a five-minute spell after our goal where they got some momentum and impetus again and we had to manage that moment better. They're a team that’s going really well, have a difficult way of playing and with the personnel we have available, we can't just keep going to the well with the same players.
“We have to rest and rotate a little bit and with the personnel we had available today I don't think we coped with it that well.”
Watch the manager’s full post-match interview on Wanderers TV