DESPERATE not to let their good work of the last week go to waste, Phil Parkinson is challenging his players to take it up a notch this afternoon.

Creditable points having been brought home from Millwall and Birmingham, the latter coming courtesy of their best outing this term, the Wanderers manager is looking to eke yet more from his squad.

Derby County, Sheffield Wednesday and Hull City will provide stiff opposition ahead of the international break at the start of September and Parkinson says the Whites must now take lessons from the past in order to taste success in the immediate future.

Twelve months ago his side enjoyed back-to-back wins at Wimbledon and Bristol Rovers and then hit a lull when hosting Fleetwood.

Fortunate his side could come from behind, with goals from Gary Madine and Josh Vela, to make it four League One wins on the bounce Parkinson is warning against any such complacency against the Rams today.

“It’s the start of another great week for us with Derby, Sheffield Wednesday and Hull and I’m looking for a continuation of the performance from Tuesday,” he said at yesterday’s press conference.

“I think Tuesday was the best we’ve played and I spoke to the lads this morning about building on that, there’s a lot of hard work gone into getting those two results away from home.

“We went back to last year when we won those first two games away from home then we came to Fleetwood at home and in the first half it was as if we were thinking ‘this game will take care of itself’ and we have to learn from that, even though we went on to win that game.

“We have to build on those last two performances, hopefully we’ll give Derby a real good game tomorrow.

“You always want to win, and if we beat Derby it would be a very good start to the season.

“Yes, we want to get off and running and get that first win, but there are good signs in the team and the lads have got a lot of confidence from the last two performances, two difficult games in different ways and we’ve come through those tests.

“Ideally we would have loved to have won one of them at least but while we’ve not been able to do that we’re a team growing in confidence and learning about each others’ game.

“We are relishing every single game and there’s an excitement around the training ground today building up to this one. It’s about taking our game on to another level tomorrow, I feel we’re capable of doing it. Physically we’re in good shape and the Birmingham staff were really impressed with the physicality of our team and their running power.

“We’re going to have to show that and more, it’s about pushing ourselves to the limit to get results. We understand as a group that every game last year was hard to get a result, this year’s the same and we need everybody to go right to the wire.”

Two key men in the draws at The Den and St Andrew’s were West Ham loanees Reece Burke and Josh Cullen, and Parkinson has been pleasantly surprised by their contributions in the back three and central midfield, respectively.

Staying at the Macron until January, both youngsters have shown their top-flight potential and caught the eye of onlookers but the manager has also been delighted with what they bring to the Whites’ collective.

“It’s fantastic for those two lads, it’s great for us to have them come to a club like Bolton and give them the opportunity to play at Championship level,” he said.

“They’re both relishing it at the moment, you can see their drive and determination to try to get the results for the team.

“And they’re team players, that’s key. Sometimes you get loan players who come in and it’s all about them and how they’re doing and their own progression.

“But those two are intelligent, they’ve come here and fitted in as part of a squad and they know it’s about the team.”