Ian Evatt reckons Salford City have recruited well ahead of Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup clash at the UniBol.

The Ammies appointed former Manchester United coach Neil Wood as their new boss over the summer and have since brought in the likes of Elliott Watt and Elliott Simoes among others.

Wood’s side have made a positive start to their League Two campaign, picking up four points from fixtures against Mansfield and Swindon.

“They’ve got a new manager in place, their recruitment has been good, they’ve got good players,” said Evatt. “We know it’s going to be a tough game.

“They’re one of the fancied teams in League Two this season so (it is) a challenge and a test and everyone wants to come here and play here and raise their game here and play well.

“So I’m looking forward to the game because I think it’s another opportunity for us to show and implement what we’ve been working on in training. We want to win.” 

The Whites enter the game in high spirits following an emphatic 3-0 win against last season’s play-off finalists Wycombe, with Kyle Dempsey bagging a brace and Aaron Morley also on target.

“It feels good because I think it’s a good marker as to how far we’ve evolved in the two years I’ve been here," the manager added.

“I think Wycombe were one of those teams which we’ve struggled against. We lost both games last year, probably a bit unlucky away from home, but at home we just got ran all over and steamrollered.

“I’ve played with Gareth (Ainsworth) so I’ve known him a long time and as managers do, we discuss things after the game, and what was really pleasing for me was not the fact that our technical game was very good and we did things tactically and technically really well.

“But he was impressed with us physically and said we matched them almost and ‘out-Wycombed’ Wycombe at times, which is a good compliment because when you’re an in-possession team, you’re normally labelled soft and flaky so it’s nice we’ve shown that other side of us.” 

Evatt is pleased with how incisive his side were in the final third against the Chairboys but believes there is still room for improvement over the coming season.

“I don’t ever think we’ve been soft or flaky, I think we do have an edge. We obviously try to be an in-possession team but we don’t want to be a possession team for the sake of it,” he said.

“Everything is for a purpose and for a reason and I thought that’s probably the most purposeful we’ve been with our possession. 

“I thought we were incisive, we attacked fast with good numbers, the slight disappointment for me was we should have had more goals.

“But I’m a perfectionist, even though I don’t believe perfection exists. I’m still a perfectionist so we’ll work hard, we’ll keep going and we think there’s improvement to come, so that is promising.”