Ian Evatt wants his players to kick on from their Carabao Cup exploits to get their League One campaign into top gear, writes Pete Oliver.
The Wanderers’ boss admits the possibility of a slowish start to the season was not unforeseen as he beds in a new squad with some players short of a full pre-season campaign.
The early outings have seen the Whites take four points from their first three league games going into Saturday’s visit of Exeter City.
But a superb performance in winning at Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday night to set up a third-round cup trip to Arsenal saw Wanderers find their form.
And Evatt wants more of the same against Exeter as his side seeks a first home league win of the campaign.
“I thought that was our best performance so far this season - most dominant performance,” said the Wanderers’ boss of their 2-0 victory over the Shrews. “It looked like we were starting to find some fluidity and take on board the things that had gone wrong at Charlton and improved, which is always a good sign as a coach and a manager.
“We got a reaction and we need to follow up on that now. Once we get everyone up to speed, which will happen very soon, I think you're going to see us gather momentum and put some results together back-to-back.
“I'm seeing them get progressively better in training. I think this is a good squad, a squad that is talented, but we need to replicate what I believe and what I see on the training ground into results and performances on matchdays.
“Tuesday was a good sign, I think. That was a sign of what this team is capable of and hopefully we can step forwards on that again on Saturday which we're going to probably need to.”
Exeter have lost their last two games by a single goal after kicking off their league season with a home win over Rotherham United.
The Grecians were beaten 7-0 at Wanderers last season as the Whites racked up their biggest home win for 33 years.
Evatt isn’t expecting a repeat but does want his side to show their home strength in front of another 20,000-plus crowd on ‘Community Day’ to bounce back further from loss at Charlton a week ago in their final league game before the international break.
“I don't think it's going to be the same as last year for certain,” he told Wanderers TV. “They have started pretty well and been involved in some really close games against some good opponents.
“We know it's going to be tough but if we can step forward again from what we showed on Tuesday, which was very positive, hopefully we can get all three points.
“But it's really on us to execute our good performance and, if we can, then we know we can make things difficult here.”
Watch the manager’s full pre-match interview and hear from summer signing Chris Forino on Wanderers TV HERE