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Ian Evatt is looking forward to seeing how his players react to Saturday’s “punch on the chin” at Carlisle United.
After a largely positive pre-season, Wanderers were brought down to earth with a bump by the Bluebirds in an error-strewn 3-1 defeat.
Evatt says he will analyse how he prepared the team and whether they trained to the right standards in the build-up to the game.
And he feels the timing of the result could be a blessing in the long run.
“This is probably a bit of a strange statement but I am actually pleased that it has happened because we can’t just keep having it our own way,” he said.
“We have to get rocked and then we have to see a reaction and today we have been punched on the chin and it’s about how we react now and we can prepare properly for Saturday and tailor the training accordingly this week and see a reaction.
“I have learned a lot. I have learned that I can’t really let up on them and let them get away with stuff in training, let them perform like that, where it’s lethargic and slow.
“I need to make sure that I am after them at all times and they understand the requirements of what it takes to be winners.”
Evatt hopes he will get a reaction from his players on the training ground this week, and then in the final pre-season friendly against Huddersfield Town on Saturday.
But he reckons a humbling result in Cumbria could be a good reminder to his squad that standards cannot slip – on or off the pitch.
“That isn’t just matchdays, it’s day to day habit,” he said. “I have said many times that there isn’t a tap you can turn on and off, the tap needs to stay on all the time.
“If you want to succeed and you want to win things then that’s how it has to be - and it can’t always be the staff driving that.
“The players have to drive those standards as well, so I am pleased it has happened today and pleased that we can now dust ourselves down and see a reaction for next Saturday.”
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