Ian Evatt is backing his new-look side to kick on after seeing their unbeaten start ended at Charlton, writes Pete Oliver.
Wanderers suffered a 2-0 loss as the Addicks extended their 100 per cent record in League One to share the early lead in the division.
It was something of a self-inflicted blow for Evatt’s men after handing Charlton the lead and then failing to turn some promising positions into real goal-scoring opportunities of their own before conceding a late second to head home pointless.
But with eight new faces still bedding into the squad Evatt believes things will get better.
The Wanderers’ boss said: “We've gifted them two goals and I'll take responsibility for that. Two mistakes have cost us two goals but that's the way I coached them to play.
“We want them to be brave and we want them to build out from the back, not for vanity but because we think we can create space at the top end of the pitch. At times we did that today but they've had two opportunities and scored two.
“We've had opportunities; the counter-attack in the first half where we had four versus two and we don't even get a shot off. Those moments we need to be better at and tighter at.
“I think there's still a lot of growth in this team and this squad I think relationships are still building, especially with the forward players in where we like to run, who likes to run where who wants to receive it where. Those type of things will get better.
“But today is a learning curve really and tough. All is not lost. Teams have been promoted by losing early in the season before. We still want to believe we're one of the better teams in this league but to do that we need to be more ruthless at the top end of the pitch and cut out the errors at the back.”
Charlton made the most of their flying start after Greg Docherty was presented with the opening goal 10 minutes in and were then able to rebuff the Whites’ response to make it three successive clean sheets to start the campaign.
Wanderers had two thirds of the possession but couldn’t make it count and will now be looking to bounce back against Shrewsbury Town in the Carabao Cup and at home to Exeter City in League One ahead of an international break.
Evatt told Wanderers TV: “Last week against Wrexham we created the better chances and didn't win the game and it's probably two points dropped.
“Today we had large spells with the ball, a lot of the ball on the edge of their box and didn't get shots off or create a great deal or keep the width and the structure the way we should.
“That will only come from working hard on the training pitch and trying to get better. We don't get enough from our spells in possession and we need to create more.
“There has to be a purpose to having possession. You don't win games by having the majority of the ball. You win games by creating chances. We want to create our chances different from how they do and we've recruited for that, so we have to believe it and back ourselves and strive to be better.
“I do believe in this group of players and I do believe we're going to get better and improve. Today is tough and it hurts but we need to learn from it and respond.”
Watch the full post-match reaction from the manager hear from midfielder Jay Matete on Wanderers TV.