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After working out their frustrations on Ipswich Town, Ian Evatt has challenged Wanderers to make another big statement to League One by getting on a winning run.
The Whites have made a fine start to a tough month on paper and welcome Rotherham United to the UniBol on Saturday.
Evatt feels his team showed their mental strength at Portman Road, reacting to a testing week in exactly the way he wanted.
“After Monday night, we could have easily felt sorry for ourselves, but I’ve spoken a lot about our character in the group and our mentality and mindset and the glue that binds us together,” he said.
“We have experienced a lot of adversity as a group. We did at the start of last season and then even this week with the abuse that was aimed at Elias Kachunga.
“But I felt we were hungry for that game, we wanted to prove a point.
“We will enjoy that result but from Monday morning it is about pushing on, preparing for the next game and making sure we give ourselves the best chance of getting another result next weekend.”
Wanderers had not scored five goals in a competitive game since an FA Cup win against Walsall in January 2019 and not away from home since 2014 when they hammered Leeds United 5-1 at Elland Road.
Evatt felt goals had been coming after blanks against Burton and Cambridge but pointed out his side still started the day at League One’s second highest scorers.
“We’re certainly not short of goals,” he said. “And I believe we were leading the division in shots before the start of play so I think that kind of result has been coming.
“We have good players. The spaces were just more relevant against Ipswich because they’re a good side and they attacked us like we attacked them.
“If it was a boxing match then both boxers come out swinging at each other and we managed to land the knockout. It is that simple.”
Evatt is also confident that Paul Cook will soon find the consistency he needs at Ipswich to lead them up the table.
The pre-season promotion favourites are still looking for their first win after making 19 signings in the summer but while Saturday ended with admiring glances being cast towards his own side, Evatt noted that there is a long way to go.
“I don’t think we learned a lot about ourselves,” he said. “The whole nation saw we are a good team on Monday and gave us some respect.
“Ipswich Town are a fantastic team and I think they have a very good manager, who will come good. He just needs some time.
“We’ll focus on ourselves, though, and remember that the performance was more than a year in the making. We’re delighted, of course.”
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