It’s one day at a time for Wanderers as they look plot a potential promotion journey, writes Pete Oliver.
The Whites face a busy end-of-season run-in with 15 games still to go in their League One campaign – continuing at Cambridge United tonight (Tuesday).
But boss Ian Evatt has told his players not to look too far ahead and to make sure all their focus is in the here and now.
“We’re human beings, so we've always got a tendency to look at what might be and sometimes that's not the best thing,” said Evatt, whose side is third in the table and three points outside the automatic promotion places with close to a third of their fixtures still to go.
“We can't control what the opposition are doing, we can't control what happens next month. All we can do is focus on being good today and we spoke about that this morning.
“I've done a lot of thinking over the weekend about how we can manage the pressure and manage the expectancy and, for us, it's just focus right now, stay in the moment, be present in today and just be good today.
“That means in everything that you do, whether it be myself and the way I get my messages across to the players and my coaching. It’s the same with the staff and the players, it’s whatever they're doing in the gym, on the grass, or their pre-hab work.
“Just make sure they give it full focus and attention and be good at that, then tomorrow re-set do the same again and before you know it we have the right habits and we'll be in a really good place come the end of the season.
"That's been the message, really: just focus on the here and now. It's really simple but I think it's a key message for where we are right now.”
Wanderers’ 3-3 draw at home to Charlton on Saturday was their third draw in their last four league games.
But Evatt’s men have lost just one of their last 11 league fixtures to keep putting important points on the board going into the first of their games in hand on their top-six rivals and the first of three successive away games at the Abbey Stadium.
“It's an opportunity we need to make into reality,” added Evatt. “This season isn't on the line tomorrow, but we know we need to perform well. I thought on Saturday, in the second-half in particular, we played very well and deserved to win the game.
"There are things that we can do better, but I think nine times out of 10 we win that game on Saturday and we have to go with that same attitude again tomorrow.
“If you want to achieve what we're trying to achieve this season then you have to win home and away. That’s just the nature of football. It can't be one-sided and we've done that so far this season. Three difficult away challenges, but our focus is just on the next one, which is at Cambridge, and we'll go there and try and take care of business.
“We're excited by this. We're not fearful of it in any way. We’re embracing it. We've worked very hard to be here. Long may that continue and we're going to keep pushing and striving for more.”
Watch the manager's full pre-match interview on Wanderers TV HERE