Evatt: We Never Know When We're Beaten

Ian Evatt is eyeing up a top-10 finish before going on to challenge the League One leadership next season.

Wanderers moved up to 10th place as they again came from behind to secure a 1-1 draw with play-off hopefuls Sheffield Wednesday.

The first league goal of MJ Williams’ career completed a third fightback in eight days as Wanderers repeated their results against Wigan and Portsmouth.

And Evatt is looking to build on his side's ability to live with the best to go up a level next season.  

“Scoring late is a good habit to have. I thought MJ was excellent and I’m very pleased for him to get that goal,” said the Wanderers’ boss.

“We rode our luck at times but considering we haven’t got an awful to play for, the amount of injuries we’ve had and some illness in camp, to show that fight and willingness to get themselves back in the game is credit to them.

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“They (Wednesday) were clearly desperate to win. All the teams we have played in this past week have had something to play for.

“But these lads never know when they’re beat and it’s never a bad habit to get into, to score so many late goals.

“We are competitive against the top teams. We’ve come a long, long way but it’s our aim and ambition to get ahead of them and become a team everyone wants to beat and be the best team in this division.

“We know we’ve still got work to do. We need to learn and improve and we have another window coming up where we can strengthen again. But there are positive signs out there.”

Wanderers trailed to a 65th-minute goal from Wednesday defender Jordan Storey, who the Whites felt had tapped in from an offside position following a corner.

But Williams’ first goal for the club denied the Owls a vital win in their play-off chase as Wanderers avoided only a second home defeat since mid-January to extend their unbeaten run to four games.

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And the result lifted the Whites above Portsmouth – who have two games in hand – ahead of an Easter double-header against Doncaster Rovers and Accrington Stanley.

“We need to be professional from now until the end of the season,” added Evatt. “We need to find a way to get four results and then we can re-group and go again next season.

 “We want to finish as strongly as we can. We want to be in that top 10, that’s our aim.

“So we will try and win all four games and see where that takes us.”

Top scorer Dapo Afolayan was fit enough to make the bench against Wednesday but wasn’t risked late on to protect his hamstring strain.

He and Kyle Dempsey could be involved next weekend but Declan John will require a check on a hamstring problem of his own and skipper Ricardo Almeida Santos has been confirmed as an absentee for the remainder of the campaign.

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