In-form Wanderers go to Cheltenham Town tonight high on confidence but with a note of caution from manager Ian Evatt.

Bolton will be looking for a fifth straight league victory and to protect League One’s best defensive record – but for all the positivity pumping around the UniBol, Evatt is aware that his team cannot afford to feel comfortable.

Not only are Wade Elliott’s Robins an improving side, at home on the type of tight and unwelcoming pitch which has often been Wanderers’ undoing in the past. But Evatt is also looking for a more ruthless streak in front of goal, negating any of the second-half nervousness which surfaced in Saturday’s win against Lincoln City.

“The message I gave to the players after the game was that the lead was never threatened at 1-0 – but it could have been,” he told The Bolton News.

“I was a centre-back and I understand how you feel when you have got complete control of a game and strikers or midfielders are missing chances, you always have that niggling feeling in the back of your mind that if you make a mistake, it’s 1-1. It might be completely undeserved, but it is the position the team has put itself in.

“The next phase of our development will be to have control as we did on Saturday but to have it from a position of strength.

“Obviously the first goal is vital but then going on to make that two and three, that’s where we need to improve. There was a massive chance just after half time against Lincoln and if that goes in, the game is killed off and we can relax a bit.

“I did feel quite relaxed on the side, to be honest, because I could visualise what was happening. On the pitch, though, you feel a different kind of pressure.

“I’d like to see our dominance be more rewarded, having a bigger lead, but you can’t have everything.”

Evatt watched Manchester City tear shreds off their neighbours United in the Premier League on Sunday and hopes, in time, his own team can start to be as clinical in front of goal.

“You look ahead to where we can go and develop,” he said. “Look at the best in Manchester City – they don’t stop at one, they go two, three, four, five, then take their foot off the gas.

“I think with us, we are a work in progress, but we are capable of scoring those numbers. You saw against Sunderland, much earlier on in our development, that we can do it. With the firepower we have, if it all clicked I do feel we could put a team to the sword but for now it is just improvement and progression in all areas.

“We can be better in possession, better and more consistent in our build phase, definitely more clinical in the final third with our decision making and execution, and there are still improvements we can make on our counter pressing.

“But I can see real progression in all areas at the moment, which is great to see.”