George Thomason expects Wanderers to show no fear as they try to hunt down a promotion place, writes Pete Oliver.
The Whites resume their challenge at Stevenage tomorrow (Friday) sitting third in the League One table – four points behind Derby County with a game in hand.
With seven games to go, it’s approaching crunch time in the battle for a top-two place and Thomason is ready to tackle it head-on.
“It's a really exciting thing to be a part of; to be in the mix with this many games to go,” said the Wanderers’ midfielder. “I'm pretty sure a lot of other teams would take the position we're in now, so it's about relishing it and not being fearful. Just go full steam ahead and try and win as many as we can.
“We've worked so hard to get ourselves into this position over the course of this season, so what's the point in being fearful? We've got seven games to go and achieve something that's life changing for all of us and that starts with Stevenage and then Reading on Monday.
“It's about trying to tick them off, because they are the people in front of us who are stopping us from getting to what we want to achieve. That's our ambition, we want to be in the Championship, and fearfulness is only going to get in our own way.”
Wanderers have a tough start to their Easter double-header with Stevenage still fighting for a top-six place on the back of an excellent campaign of their own.
Thomason admitted the Whites knew they’d been in a game after winning the reverse fixture 3-2 last October and would dearly love a repeat as Ian Evatt’s men look to potentially close the gap on Derby and leaders Portsmouth – who face each other next Tuesday night.
“Throughout this season we've been performance and process-driven and results have kind of followed. But now it's about results,” added Wanderers’ longest-serving player, whose value to the cause was further underlined by confirmation from the EFL that he had been credited with a sixth goal of the season in the Whites’ recent 5-0 win over Oxford United.
“We need to win games. We need to keep ourselves on the tails of the boys in front of us and when they make an error we’re there to pounce. Obviously, we want to play great football and have those performance levels alongside results.
“First and foremost we've got to do our own job and win our games. There are going to be many twists and turns, probably more than we may expect over the next seven games, because it's a psychological thing as well as a physical thing.
“Everyone knows all the top teams can play good football, but you need to be psychologically there to win the battles, knowing that everyone else is there or thereabouts.
“We want the performance levels to be there because they give us the greatest chance of getting those results, but ultimately results are what's required and those three points are massive at this stage of the season.
“If you can peak and perform and gather that momentum of ticking off wins on the bounce, then not only does it send a message to others around us, it keeps the camp so positive at this moment in time that we'll get ourselves over the line.”
Watch George’s full pre-match interview as he assesses the Stevenage challenge and his own goal-scoring form on Wanderers TV HERE