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Wanderers will have to up their game to get a result at Oxford, says Ian Evatt.
While happy to have beaten Charlton Athletic on Tuesday night, the Bolton boss did feel a little nonplussed by his side’s performance on the night.
Oxford, beaten at Accrington, remain fifth in the table and have lost just once at home in their last 11 matches in all competitions.
And while Evatt would take any positive result against Karl Robinson’s promotion-chasers, he does hope to see some improvement in the quality of football his team produces.
“Getting a result like that is satisfying,” he said, “but fundamentally performances are what are the most important thing because the more you play well, the more chance you’ve got of winning games.
“We need to play a lot better than that at Oxford on Saturday for us to have a chance of getting something out of the game, but it is satisfying to have played poorly and won.
“That is something that we haven’t done very well at all, and people talk all the time that it is a sign of a good team when you are able to do that.”
Wanderers are now 11 points off the play-offs and have already played the likes of Sunderland, Rotherham, Ipswich and Wycombe home and away.
Evatt is pleased with the direction his team is heading.
“You look around the league and other than Rotherham that are on an amazing run of form and are kicking clear at the top of the division, it’s difficult to win five out of six and be unbeaten,” he said. “It is really tough, it is unforgiving. Every game poses a different challenge and we have got another one on Saturday but the lads are in good form, they are in good spirits.”
Having spent much of the season looking brittle after conceding a goal, Wanderers have shown a more resilient streak in their last two games to preserve that unbeaten run.
“At times we have shrunk in games and wilted away, but that is not us,” he said. “We want to be a team that is hard to beat and I think we have now become a team that is hard to beat.
“[Against Charlton] We didn’t play well but managed to win with a set play and credit to the opposition, I thought they were very good as well.
“But I think we have come a long way in a very short space of time, so on to Oxford on Saturday.”
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