Ian Evatt praised his side’s powers of recovery as the Wanderers bounced back from a tough week with the win that keeps them in the thick of the promotion race, writes Pete Oliver.
Evatt's men showed their character to get past successive derby defeats at Blackpool and Wigan to comfortably beat Cambridge United 2-0.
Goals from George Thomason and Aaron Collins’ first for the club gave the Whites an impressive 12th home win of the season as the Whites stayed just outside League One's top two on goal difference.
“As a team it shows a great reaction,” said the Wanderers’ boss, whose side is now unbeaten in seven home league games. “We've been hurting this week and we faced a lot of criticism, some necessary and some unnecessary, but we believe in ourselves and we'll just keep going.
“It was hard and harsh to take (at Wigan) but that's football and the lads have managed to pick themselves up again today and played some really good stuff.
“I would have liked to have seen more reward for the good play. We missed some brilliant opportunities in the first half that could have simplified it a little bit more for us. But these games are never easy, and I'm delighted we managed to get the win.”
Thomason eased any potential anxiety with his fifth goal of the season before half-time as Josh Sheehan weighed in with his 10th assist of the campaign.
And Collins then enjoyed his moment in the sun with his first goal since his January signing with a lovely finish to guarantee the points on the back of a first clean sheet in nine league games.
“It was really important for us to re-set and I think we managed to do that really well today,” added Evatt, who takes his side to Oakwell to face top-six rivals Barnsley next Tuesday night.
“The crowd stayed with us which was good, even though we missed some opportunities early on which would have settled everybody down. But we stayed focused and scored two very good goals.
“George stepped up and finished it really well. Again, we had some good opportunities and I'm delighted for Aaron Collins to get off the mark. It was important and I'm pleased for him. It was a really good finish and a somersault to boot!
“The second half was much more like Aaron. Sometimes it can be really hard for a player to come in with huge expectation and he's going to get better and better ,so I'm pleased for him.
“It was a pretty polished performance and now we just need to get ready for Tuesday. We've got some challenging and difficult games to come. We know that, but there's more to come and we're going to get bodies back all the time.
“For us it was just about re-setting and weathering the storm of this week and we've managed to do that and ended the week on a high, which was important. We've just got to keep pushing, keep moving forwards, keep winning football matches and take care of our own business. There's a long, long way to go.”
Watch the manager's full post-match reaction on Wanderers TV HERE