Steven Schumacher is eyeing the Vertu Trophy as the ideal platform to regain the winning feeling as Wanderers aim to secure a place in the quarter-finals, writes Pete Oliver.
The Whites entertain Port Vale tomorrow (Tuesday) night with a last-eight place up for grabs. Schumacher wants his team to remain in with a chance of repeating the club’s 2023 success in the competition, but, equally, wants a victory to reverse recent form which has seen Wanderers slip off the League One automatic promotion pace.
“We're in a little bit of a sticky run at the moment for results with only one win in the last six,” admitted the head coach. “This gives us an opportunity to put that right and start building some momentum and get some confidence maybe back into the players.
“I think we've played okay, even if the results haven't gone as well as we wanted over the last six games. But Saturday we weren’t like us. We were below our standards and we need to get back to playing better football to try and win.
“A win would get us into the next round, first and foremost in a competition we want to try and progress in, and, hopefully, give some players some belief and build that momentum.
“In the home games against Rotherham, Mansfield and Northampton we’ve played some good football but haven’t scored enough goals to get the results we wanted.
“On Saturday we were nowhere near the level and didn’t get what we wanted. For the first time we looked like we were a little bit behind what we needed, so we have to try and put that right on Tuesday.”
Saturday’s 3-1 loss at Peterborough United extended Wanderers’ winless run to four games and left them with a total of just two points since a Boxing Day win over Rotherham United.
Schumacher’s men remain in a play-off spot, though, with the boss adamant a promotion push is still firmly on the cards with 21 games to go – starting at local rivals Wigan Athletic on Saturday.
Victory over a Port Vale side bottom of League One but successful in their last two games provides the chance to get back on track ahead of the derby with Schumacher looking no further ahead than the possibility of a first win of 2026.
“Everybody is aware of what the end goal is in this competition if you can progress,” he told Wanderers TV. “That is a really good carrot in front of you, but to get that you’ve got to play well and find a way to beat an opponent who are going to come here and try and beat you.
“They’ve just had a change of manager so they will be desperate to try and impress the new manager. We don’t know exactly how they’re going to go about the game because Jon (Brady) has only had one game in charge.
“We don’t know how they will set up but that gives us an opportunity to focus on ourselves and figure out how we need to play at home, how we need to look a little bit more dangerous.
“I’m not thinking about the next game. I know how important the next game is but the team (against Vale) will be strong. The squad’s strong. I haven’t got loads of kids in the squad where I have to give debuts to 18-year-olds or whatever.
“I’ve got a fully fit, professional squad, so whatever team we pick should be able to go and try and perform to firstly to get into the next round and to start build some momentum.”
Watch the full pre-match interview with the boss on Wanderers TV