Wanderers have tapped into the old boy network to help them prepare for their Saturday lunchtime trip to Crawley as they go for back-to-back League One wins, writes Pete Oliver.
The Whites have stayed in the south following Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup exit at Arsenal ahead of a first visit to the Broadfield Stadium since clinching promotion from League Two there in May, 2021.
And after a day of recovery at their London base on Thursday, Ian Evatt’s men went through their paces on Friday morning at National League side Wealdstone – managed by former Wanderer Matt Taylor.
“Matt is a guy I speak to quite a lot. It's great that he's enabled us to train on their pitch and their team is actually training at Lostock today, which has worked out quite well for both parties,” explained Evatt.
“It's great for us to be able to get a training session in down here and get ready because it's going to be a tough game, a difficult game, but one if we can win gets us back closer to where we want to be.
“Wednesday was very difficult but we’re back in calmer waters, so to speak, this weekend. It’s a really important that we back up and follow on from what we saw against Reading on Saturday and we’re looking forward to it.”
Wanderers secured their first league win since the opening day of the campaign with an impressive 5-2 victory over Reading last weekend.
Dion Charles led the way with a hat-trick alongside Victor Adeboyejo, who impressed on his first league start of the campaign.
Aaron Collins then got on the scoresheet in the 5-1 cup loss at Arsenal where he was partnered by John McAtee.
And Evatt is looking for the foursome to stay in the groove as Wanderers bid for a second away success of the campaign against a newly-promoted Crawley side which lost their manager to MK Dons in mid-week to get to double figures for the season with games against Northampton and Shrewsbury to come ahead of a likely international break.
“Saturday was much more like it,” added the Wanderers’ boss. “Wednesday was a bit alien to us because we had to go about things in a slightly different way to what we're used to.
“We want to get back to playing that style and brand we saw on Saturday, that attacking intent, front foot, aggressive football, and fingers crossed we can do that at Crawley and start the game well.
“It's great to see the strikers hitting some form now, from Dion and Victor having a big part to play in the five goals against Reading, and Aaron and John, at times, caused Arsenal’s back players some problems on Wednesday.
“If we can get all those four fit and firing and playing with confidence, that’s a tough four to stop.”
Forward Klaidi Lolos misses out on a return to Crawley after helping the Red Devils win the League Two play-offs last season, although the summer signing could be back for the Whites’ double-header next week for the first time since being injured in a 2-1 win at Leyton Orient on the first day of the season.
However, Chris Forino looks set for a spell on the sidelines with the defender under-going a scan on the hamstring injury he suffered at the Emirates Stadium.
Watch the manager’s full pre-match interview on Wanderers TV HERE