Steve Evans says his Stevenage side must “dust ourselves down” as they prepare to face Wanderers on Tuesday night.

Evans’ men were beaten 3-1 by Oxford over the weekend despite going in front through Jamie Reid’s opener after 15 minutes.

Despite the result, they remain third in the League One table after a promising start to life back in the third tier.

“We will dust ourselves down,” Evans told the club’s YouTube channel. “It hurts but we will get back on the training ground and go to Bolton to compete with a side who arguably will be the champions, for me.

“Watching a good Oxford side, but I think Bolton are a bit special.”

Greg Leigh bagged a brace for Oxford at the Lamex Stadium, with Elliott Moore also getting on the scoresheet.

“It was a good start, we were the dominant side and got the goal,” the experienced manager continued.

“In the second half, those back boys who have been real leaders for us were poor. We were poor defensively and that gave them a little bit of a lifeline to go 2-1 in front.

“I think there is only Luther Wildin who can go home happy that he did his job tonight. The other four have not.

“They have not done their jobs and two or three of them had bad games individually and were as poor as I have seen them.

“But they are good players, they are good men. They will take that criticism where it is meant.”

Wanderers have only faced Stevenage twice in their history, coming out on top in both fixtures.

The most recent meeting was in February 2021, with Declan John getting the decisive goal as Ian Evatt’s men finished with 10 men after MJ Williams was given his marching orders.