LEAGUE One can throw up some contrasting footballing styles, and Wanderers will have sampled the extremes by the time they walk off the pitch at Stevenage tonight.

After the dominant possession of big-spending Birmingham City and the cut-and-thrust approach of pacy Peterborough United, Ian Evatt’s side will roll up their sleeves for the physicality and strength of Stevenage, looking to break into the top six before the weekend.

Wanderers have won five of their last seven league games but few would argue their most convincing performance of the season to date arrived on Saturday, Klaidi Lolos’s late strike earning a deserved three points. Building on that, in the compact 7,800 Lamex Stadium, is Evatt’s primary aim this evening.

“We’re under no illusion, being part of this football club means you have to win consistently at the level we’re at,” he said. “The manner in which we won it was great for everyone but not so great for me, I’d have liked it to be more comfortable, given how we performed on the day.

“But we know that if we want to be where we want to be this season, this is the type of game we’ll have to go and get a result.

“You have to go about it in a different way. We’ll be challenged physically and mentally but we have to be ready for it.”

Wanderers fought out a forgettable 0-0 draw at Stevenage in March as they scrapped to stay in touch with second spot, a chase which went to the last day but ultimately ended in disappointment.

And though Steve Evans is no longer in charge, Evatt expects a similar sort of test against a side that has already accounted for Shrewsbury, Barnsley, Charlton and Wrexham at home this season.

“Everyone has their own plan and we have found that teams change that plan against us regularly, so preparing for games is a challenge,” he said.

“But we are pretty clear on what we are going into at Stevenage. It is a difficult place, a tight pitch, a really physical team who are strong at set plays.

“First and foremost we have to fight and battle. We have to earn the right – the old school way – football hasn’t changed and you still need to do the basics. And then on top of that we need to bring some quality but I think we can do that.”

Wanderers kept their third clean sheet of the season against Peterborough at the weekend, shutting out an attack that had outscored any other in League One to that stage.

Evatt said: “I thought the back three were excellent and it was Josh Dacres-Cogley’s best game for a while,” he said. “Szabi (Schon) is starting to build a level of consistency, Luke Southwood made a big save when called upon, and Ricardo Santos in particular was back to being how we have seen him for the last few years.

“It was a really good performance and hopefully It gives them some confidence that if they can do it against what I deem to be some of the best forward players in this division, they can do it against most.

“This will be a different type of challenge, more aerial bombardment, they challenge you in behind and put balls into good areas, second balls, they put it on you, put crosses into the box, set plays. It will be a different type of defensive performance needed.”

Stevenage appointed former player Alex Revell for his second stint as manager after Evans joined Rotherham United at the end of last season.

He had previously taken charge between February 2020 and November 2021, a spell in which the club was spared relegation to the National League by virtue of Macclesfield Town’s demise.

“He is a great guy and I have a lot of time for him, he’s a good football man,” Evatt said of Revell.

“I am pleased he got another opportunity and I’m pleased he has done very well there so far.

“We know what is coming but, as always, our focus is on how we can affect the game, so we’ll be going there to do that.”