Wanderers boss Ian Evatt has hailed his side’s mentality ahead of their trip to Morecambe this afternoon.

The Whites are aiming to return to winning ways following Tuesday night’s defeat against Portsmouth.

Evatt’s men sit fourth in the League One table despite the result, but the manager insists they are hungry for more.

He told The Bolton News: “I don't take losing nicely or easily, but what we've said is, ‘when you've faced failure, which we have done on Tuesday, then what you have to do is trust each other even more’.

“That's trusting the process and trusting what we're trying to do. I thought on Tuesday we just lost a little bit of belief, maybe against the wind second half and they had some success with their press first half.

“But again, that was down to us being slightly too passive, negative and neutral with our passing. I think we need to play forward with quality a lot more.

“We've looked at it, we've spoken about it as we always do and I think we’ll see an improvement on Saturday.” 

Wanderers have a Wembley final against Plymouth coming up next month, but Evatt refuses to look past their upcoming league fixtures.

The Whites also have games against Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday before the international break, which could prove to be crucial in their efforts to gain ground on the promotion race.

He added: “It would be really easy for the players to sit there and say, ‘we're fourth in the league, we're in a cup final. We're doing alright’.

“As I've said before, the time for pats on the back is in the summer when the job is done.

“The job is not done and if they think it is, then they need to raise their own standards and expectations because that's the expectations that we put on ourselves. But also the fanbase puts expectations on us - they expect success.”

Evatt isn’t shying away from the pressure that comes with managing Wanderers, but he reckons they are in a good place heading into the business stage of the season.

“If we were spending what Ipswich, Sheffield Wednesday and others are spending then I'd probably be a bit more worried to be honest,” the manager explained.

“Doing what we're doing and trying to do it in a manageable and sustainable way, I think we're doing okay. But we know we can do better and it's always about striving for improvement.

“There is nobody who wants to improve more than me and this group of players, and we'll keep working hard to make sure we try to do that.”