Ian Evatt welcomed Wanderers’ progress in the Vertu Trophy as his side looks to keep fighting on two fronts, writes Pete Oliver.
The Whites eased past League One rivals Huddersfield Town to reach the last-16 of the competition with a 3-1 win giving themselves the perfect preparation for Saturday’s visit of neighbours Wigan Athletic.
“I'm delighted with the performance really,” said Evatt after a seventh win in nine home games since his side lost to the Terriers in September was sealed with a first-half header from Klaidi Lolos and two late goals from the competition's joint leading top scorer Aaron Collins.
“I think that was their team bang at it. They came here to play, they came here to win and I'm just pleased for the players they showed the right energy, the right attitude, the right intensity; things that we've spoken about and from that performance earlier in the season, when we got beat 4-0 here which hurt us, that's a huge improvement and a huge step forward.
“In the second half in particular I liked a lot of what I saw. The only thing I would say is that for all our good play we have to have rewards at the end of it and we missed three or four gilt-edged chances that have to be goals and then the scoreline probably reflects what some of our good play warranted.
“That's the only critique tonight, that for all our good play we didn't quite get the rewards that we wanted and warranted with the goals, but hopefully they will come on Saturday.”
After last weekend’s wash-out at Bristol, Wanderers utilised their squad strength to balance out the game time ahead of resuming their league campaign in a lunchtime kick-off against the Latics.
And Evatt is hoping for more of the same to taste some overdue derby success and keep his side moving up the table and potentially back into the top six.
“All we have to do now is build on that,” the manager told Wanderers TV. “We know there's a huge game to come on Saturday but the players are in a good place. They're focused and we will be ready to go.
“I think the players are getting better. There’s a steely determination in the group that we want to prove a few doubters wrong, but we know we have to do our talking on the pitch.
“It's more actions than words at the moment and that's where we're focused. We just want to move on to Saturday and give it our best shot. We know what's required, we know what we need to do. Now it's down to us to go out there and execute it.”
Watch the manager's full post-match interview on Wanderers TV HERE