Bolton Wanderers are back in action this weekend when they take on Stevenage at home.
The Boro are the visitors to the University of Bolton Stadium on Saturday.
And the Trotters have the chance to do the double over Alex Revell's side after a 2-1 win in November at the Lamex Stadium.
Bolton have been handed a boost ahead of that encounter too with confirmation that attacker Marcus Maddison will be free to play after his red card in midweek against Morecambe was overturned.
Ahead of the weekend fixture, Bolton manager Evatt spoke to the media at a pre-match press conference and here's the highlights of what he had to say.
Is the contract for George Thomason done and dusted?
“More or less. I think he’s due to sign tomorrow so there will an announcement tomorrow, but everything’s agreed. I’m putting unbelievable pressure on him to make sure he signs now!”
Do you think supporters and the media expect too much from certain clubs? You brought a lot of new players in January, and that does raise expectation - do we expect too much at times?
“I think so. I think football is probably the most fickle industry in the world. When you lose a game you’re the worst thing ever and then when you win something, you’re the best thing since sliced bread.
"It’s very frustrating sometimes, but I’d rather have expectancy than not and I’d rather us try and be and want to be the best more than anything else.
"The pleasing thing for me is of late, we can all see that there’s improvement in the team and we’re playing a lot better now than what we were earlier in the season. We’ve got in my opinion a better group of players, a stronger squad, a more competitive group and it’s down to us now to build results, build consistency.
"The fans will always expect because we’re such a big club, that’s no bad thing, but we have to be realistic as well. We’ve got 20 games to go.
"I was frustrated the other night because I think we deserved to win the game, but if we can perform like we did against Cheltenham, against Leyton Orient, certainly on Tuesday night for long periods, we’ll win a lot more than we lose.”
Thoughts on Stevenage next up?
“They had a fantastic result at Tranmere in the week. We managed to win down there earlier this season and it was a tough, competitive game and I expect nothing different here.
"We want to just build on the platform we’re giving ourselves now in games, which is a lot better. For me, we’ve still got issues in set pieces for and against.
"I think we’re not really conceding many chances at all from open play and I think if you look at our record of scoring from open play, it’s probably one of the best in the division, relative to our goals scored.
"We have to be better and be stronger defensively and try and get our head in on some of the balls we put into the box on the attacking ones because that can make all the difference in games, as we’ve seen. We lost points against Cheltenham from a set piece, we lost points on Tuesday from a set piece - it’s becoming a bit of a regular theme.”
Looking ahead, the new players are still integrating. Has it been like a semi pre-season?
“Yeah it has because we haven’t got the benefit of friendlies to get these players fit, so we’re trying to get them fit in live competition and that was the reasoning to make so many changes when I did on Tuesday, to give these lads the opportunity to get these lads up to speed to win us games.
"They’re going to be big players for us moving forward. The squad has improved 10 fold, the quality of training has improved 10 fold. For me now it’s just about keeping everyone in one piece and increasing the fitness levels and getting results off the back of that.
"It isn’t a coincidence that especially at home this 60 minute marker is vital because as you saw from Tuesday, teams are now giving us the respect, they’re sitting off the ball, being compact, making it difficult for us, so we’re not going to blow teams away quicker because the games aren’t like that.
"But the 60 minute marker is where you’ve built pressure, you’ve moved the opposition around, they’re fatiguing and now we have a real opportunities to bring quality off the bench to affect the game for us to win it.
"That’s the plan moving forward and it would have worked that way on Tuesday in my opinion but for the sending off, I think we’d have gone on to win comfortably.
"We didn’t really look under any pressure, but the sending off changed the game. Moving forwards especially at home with teams respecting what we’re doing, sitting off the ball, it’s going to be more about patience than anything else.”
Any Covid issues at all?
“No, we’ve been tested again today and we’re all fine and all clear. The player that had coronavirus will be back in on Saturday, as will Kieran Lee, out of quarantine.”
What are the plans for Marcus Maddison heading forward? Will it be like Kieran Lee with him starting games or will he gradually be introduced?
“Marcus is in a different place to Kieran. Kieran hadn’t been involved in a pre-season, hadn’t played football for four or five months.
"Marcus, his last game for Charlton was in January so he’s a lot fitter and more robust than Kieran was. He’s also younger so he’s able to play a lot quicker than what Kieran is.”
With George Thomason’s vision in the midfield, are you winning that battle in more matches that should see you dominating more games?
“When you’re a team that tries to play possession-based football and you’re trying to play and create through the thirds, the midfield position is pivotal in doing that obviously and he is very good at receiving the ball back to goal but he’s also good at spotting passes and playing forwards.
"He has a wonderful left foot, he’s a very technical player and what’s pleasing is the physical work we’re putting in to him on the training pitch and off it in the gym, the aggressive side of the game, he’s starting to do a lot better as well.
"George is a very talented young man, he’s a big asset for this football club and we’re delighted that we’re able to get a new contract for him and move forwards with him in the team.”
Has he shown signs of learning from Kieran Lee and Marcus Maddison?
“Madders has only just come in the building and Kieran hasn’t been long in. I think George, his application in training is first class and we do a lot of work with the players on what we expect, so there isn’t any grey areas.
"George has took to it like a duck to water really and he did do from pre-season. We just wanted him to become more robust and get some more men’s football under his belt and he wanted that opportunity, so went to Bamber Bridge to play, he was excellent and far ahead of the level so to speak, and now he’s come back and shown and proved that he’s ready to play in our team, which is great for us.”
Will Stevenage’s win over Tranmere add extra spice for them?
“I think they’ve picked up since we played them down there. They’ve got some good results and it was a good result on Tuesday night.
"I think the tide is turning with us. I think we’re starting to control games better. We’re starting to have teams respect us a lot more and sit off the ball so it’s going to be tough, it’s going to be difficult.
"We’re going to need to be patient and we’re going to need to play at the top of our game, but I do feel like we’re getting there and I do feel like we’re improving fast and if we can win this next game, that’s seven points from the last three home games and that’s a huge step in the right direction.”
