CHELTENHAM Town come to Wanderers tomorrow as a completely different prospect to the team beaten comfortably on their own patch back in August.

Back when the new season was only a couple of weeks old Dion Charles scored twice in a 3-0 rout at the Completely-Suzuki Stadium.

It took until October 21 for the Robins to win their first game in the league, by which time Wade Elliott had been sacked and former Bristol Rovers and Port Vale manager Darrell Clarke installed in his place.

The transformation since has given the Gloucestershire men hope that they can secure the League One place they have held just as long as Bolton, having gained promotion in the same 2020/21 campaign.

Evidence of the revival on Whaddon Road was seen in last weekend’s 2-1 victory over league leaders Portsmouth, a result celebrated just as fervently up here in Lancashire.

But it also provided Evatt with ample ammunition to warn his players that they cannot afford to take their opposition lightly when they visit the Toughsheet.

“I think all the data we look at on our opposition analysis since Darrell took over, if the season had stared then they would be 10th – which looks vastly different to what it does for them right now,” he said.

“He has done a brilliant job and they are highly motivated. Their running and pressing has been excellent.

“Darrell is an experienced manager and has some good achievements on his CV. What we have seen since he took over is that there is a change in attitude, there seems to be a lot more belief in his players.

“They are very energetic, hard to beat, organised, and they are running for him. It sounds very basic but you can see the difference between a team that is running for its manager and a team that isn’t.

“They are obviously enjoying their work at the moment.

“Everyone raises their game for us at the moment so we have to be right on it. We know it is going to be a really tough game.”

Wanderers are on a run of six games unbeaten in all competitions, which has put them back on to Pompey shoulder in the automatic promotion spots.

Cameron Jerome’s goal at Accrington in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy in midweek means that all 21 senior outfield players have now scored for Evatt’s side this season.

The manager says his players can take great heart from their attacking returns so far but he still believes they are capable of more.

“We knew when we had the chat about targets and goal-setting in pre-season that everyone would have to step-up and chip in,” he said.

“There has been a huge improvement in our output and credit to the players that they are applying what we are asking them to do.

“I think there is more to come with it. We are still missing too many key decisions and we need to be more ruthless and clinical. When it comes together, like Exeter, it can look pretty good but we need to do it more consistently.”