Bolton Wanderers are in midweek FA Cup action and have a short journey to Edgeley Park to take on Greater Manchester neighbours Stockport County.
Wanderers make the trip to take on the Hatters in a first round replay following a 2-2 draw at the University of Bolton Stadium.
A place in the second round is on offer for the victors, with the reward being a trip to Rotherham United.
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And the game is another chance for Wanderers to be reunited with former captain Antoni Sarcevic, who made a shock move to the Hatters last month but missed the game owing to an injury picked up in training, but is poised to play this time around.
Ahead of the match, Wanderers boss Ian Evatt spoke to the media and here's a transcript of what he had to say to broadcasters.
A replay at Edgeley Park coming up…
“We’re looking forward to it. We’re obviously disappointed not to get the job done in the home game, but we’ve got another chance, another crack at it and we go there having rebuilt some confidence and momentum and we’re looking forward to it.”
How are things shaping up squad wise and team wise?
“Really good. We decided not to risk Eoin on Friday. He’s got a slight calf issue and we still haven’t decided what to do with that yet, whether to risk it or to leave it a few more days, but it’s nothing serious at all. Everyone else has come through fine.
"It was obviously great yesterday for Xav to get some minutes in the legs and Baka and everybody else came through fine on Friday, so things are looking very positive.”
There has to be a definitive response against Stockport County - does that alter anything at all in the build-up or the style of play?
“No, I just hope we don’t make the mistakes we did in the first game. I think we dominated that game and two really poor decisions cost us the game. We certainly don’t want extra time and penalties, especially with a long trip to Wycombe on Saturday.
"It’s the last thing we need and I’m sure they’ll feel the same in their own division, so we’ll try and get the job done, be professional and give it our best shot.”
The win against Crewe on Friday and then of course the emotion of the charity game on Sunday - both went very well. That must have given everybody a lift, if they needed it?
“It was the perfect weekend, it’s the best weekend I’ve had since I’ve been at the club. Obviously the performance and the win on Friday was vitally important to make sure that this weekend, we could be relaxed and enjoy it.
"But the way the club came together, people behind the scenes working their socks off to make it happen. The fans, 13,000 of them turning out to see their new heroes and definitely their old ones, was fantastic for a wonderful family and a great cause.”
Any possibility of the manager’s video of a hat trick being shown to the players before Stockport?
“It’s already been shown! I think they were the only ones in the stadium not with a smile on their faces when they went in because they knew what was going to come after it, so it’s important that they understand that the manager can still do a bit!”
It’s been quite a 72 hours and the Crewe game was the ideal way to kick things off?
“Yeah, it was important that we got back to winning ways in the division. We felt like we were increasing in confidence and getting some momentum back with some of the cup games, even though we didn’t win in the FA Cup, but we didn’t get beat and the performance at Rochdale was good.
"A good comeback against Gillingham in the league, a good first half at Portsmouth, so things were coming. We just hadn’t put it all together but Friday we managed to get the result that we needed and it was a brilliant weekend for all involved.”
Are passes like the one MJ Williams to Elias Kachunga that allows him to set up the goal for Amadou Bakayoko, is that kind of thing something he does in training fairly frequently?
“He’s a very talented football player and he has a great range of passing. Obviously he was very highly thought of at Liverpool when he was a child and a young player and then had a bad injury which he’s now over and we’re going to see the fruits of that.
"He has a great range of passing, but I think it was before that it was a great decision from Joel (Dixon) to kick, a difficult skill and then Dapo’s (Afolayan) first touch was out of this world.
"It was actually a really good goal but we tend not to score bad goals. All of our goals are well worked or worldies, so to speak, even my own!”
What do you think of a team like Stockport who have ambitions to be back in the Football League, but so have about nine or 10 other teams?
“I think this is a one-off game so it’s hard to really compare it to the league fixtures. They’ll be up for it, there’s no doubt about that and you saw with the fans and the atmosphere that they created here, it was really difficult to play in but I believe we’ve sold out our allocation so hopefully our fans can go there and make a lot of noise and we can give them something to sing about.”
Will the presence of quite a large contingent is going to be that extra bit of tonic that the players need to motivate themselves?
“That and the fact that it’s on national television. A great platform for the players to go and enjoy it, embrace it and show everybody what they can do.
"We’re respectful of Stockport, certainly respectful of the players they’ve got and what they’re doing as a football club at the minute, but we have a firm belief in ourselves that if we perform to our levels and standards, we think we should win the game.”
