Evatt: The Important Thing Is We're Through

Ian Evatt was delighted to see his side secure their place in the last-16 of the Papa Johns Trophy as Wanderers kept their Wembley hopes alive.

The Whites will find out their opponents in the next round when the draw takes place at 4.30pm on Thursday.

And Evatt’s men made sure they will have their name in the hat as they kept their nerve to beat in-form League Two outfit Barrow AFC 3-2 at the University of Bolton Stadium.

“In cup ties you just need to get yourselves in the next round regardless of performance,” said Wanderers’ boss Evatt after the victory over his former club.

“The first-half performance was good, the second half not so good but we’re in the next round and that’s what’s important.

“In the first half I thought we were excellent. It was quite fluid and some of the stuff we did was great.

“Probably the game should be over at half-time but we’ve given them a little bit of hope with that goal just before the break.

“Regardless of whether it was a foul or not it was a disappointing goal to concede and then second half I don’t think we were at our fluid best.

“But the most important thing is we’re through to the next round and we can look forward to that now.”

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Wanderers will face one of Burton Albion, Lincoln City, Manchester United’s U21s, Accrington Stanley, Salford City, or the winners of Wednesday night’s ties between Port Vale and Barnsley and Everton U21s against Mansfield Town when the draw is made.

The ties are due to be played in the week commencing 12 December and Wanderers can put that date in their diaries thanks to goals from Dapo Afolayan, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Elias Kachunga.

The Whites were cruising at 2-0 but after being pegged back early in the second half needed Kachunga’s first goal since August to finally end Barrow’s hopes and make it two important wins in the space of four days.

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“It would have been easy at 2-2 to go under but we found a way. We re-set again and managed to get ourselves back in front and then managed the game out,” added Evatt, who confirmed that midfielder Kyle Dempsey will undergo a scan to assess a ‘nasty looking’ ankle injury which forced him to come off after 20 minutes.

“It probably wasn’t as fluid as I want to see second half but we have to give great credit to the opposition for that. They came with a good game plan and caused us problems.

“We made nine changes from the (last) league game which shows the strength and quality of our squad that we were able to do that.

“The first half was pleasing, the second half not so much but we’ve got a chance to re-set now and work hard on the training ground to get ready for Bristol Rovers next Friday.”

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