Steve Evans said his Bristol Rovers team must execute a detailed plan when they travel to Crawley Town in Sky Bet League Two on Saturday afternoon.
The 63-year-old has a history with the Red Devils, managing them from 2007 to 2012 and leading them to promotion from the National League in the 2010/11 season.
Crawley have shown themselves to be a tough side to face under Colin Kazim-Richards, with both teams coming into the game off the back of a league victory the previous Saturday after an opening-day defeat.
Speaking to the media before the match, Evans previewed the clash against his former side, suggesting the Red Devils will play similarly to York City, so his players must stick to the plan.
INJURY UPDATES
"There aren’t any new knocks. I mean, the two concerns obviously: Alfie has been out with his back, and Keenan Gough’s been tight in his hamstring. He’s trained today, so we’ll see how he is tomorrow, but they are the only two in the squad that we’ve any issues with.
"But that’s why we’ve got a squad. We’ve got good cover with Alfie missing at present, and if Keenan is out, then we’ve got able deputies in two or three areas."
"I took him [Keenan ] out of part of the session to focus on hamstring tightness. At the start of the season, it’s easier to take someone out and give them a day or two than keep them in and give them six weeks out. Experience tells you Alfie’s not quite right, and hopefully by tomorrow he’s feeling a lot better again, and hopefully Keenan is as well. So hopefully we have full options to travel."
REFLECTIONS ON TUESDAY NIGHT
"I think for 70 minutes it was outstanding. Some of the passages of play we should have been out of sight. If you look back at the video, we don’t take full advantage of taking the ball off a young side and going three against one and two against one.
"We didn’t take advantage of it. We got a bit deeper; we changed the shape, which didn’t help us, and that was more about getting players off the pitch than putting players on it. But overall, it was a good exercise for us."
SCORING GOALS AND CREATING CHANCES
"We know where the Achilles heel lies. We’re not taking full advantage when we’re pressing high up the pitch and taking the ball off teams. You need a ruthless streak. Even in the York game, for as poor as our performance was, we had two wonderful opportunities to go 2–0. If we go 2–0, in my opinion, we see the game and win the game. We have to take advantage of that.
"We also have to be sharper one-on-one defensively. It’s individual errors costing us in terms of conceding, but these are good players, experienced players, and they’re fighting to find that little bit of form. The one thing we know is we have lads who really care, and that’s important."
LEAGUE TWO ENTERTAINERS
"I’d rather be boring and be top of the league. Once somebody called me fat, I said I’d rather be fat and winning than skinny and getting beat. So, I need to start winning, or I’ll be eating cakes and getting fat again.
"I think when you go away as a fan, there’s nothing better than last week’s game,5–3. It’s fantastic as a fan. Probably during the game it’s not fantastic when you see us give away sloppy goals and allow the opposition back into it. But when your team comes out on top, there’s nothing better than a 5–3 win, a 4–2, a 4–3 win.
"But as you say, not conceding is a good habit. We became really consistent with that at the end of last season, and we need to adopt that policy because we’ll always score goals. We’ve got so much creativity in the forward areas it can be frightening, but the back boys need to do their job because it’s a team at the end of the day."
TRANSFER UPDATE
"There’s been interest in two or three players to go — the ones we said were available. We’ll see where the boys want to go with that. That’s up to them and the people who look after them. In terms of incoming, I think we’re pretty much settled now. I don’t think we’re desperate to do anything.
"We’re always open to a late move-in. We’re looking at options, but whether we want to do that will depend on the players we’re seeing over the next week or so, developing and settling in. Some players are still getting to know people’s names — even young Reiss and young Keenan have been here two weeks, but it’s difficult to learn 30,40 names in that period. Young Phil didn’t know anyone; he knew two names, Reiss and Keenan, because he stays with them. So, it takes time, but the squad is in really good shape."
CRAWLEY TOWN PREVIEW
"They’ve made some really good signings. They’ll get the ball down and play. They’ve got pace in wide areas. If our supporters are looking for an identification, it's almost similar to the way York City played. And we know we didn’t handle that very well. So we need our detailed plan put into execution, and not players turning up as they did at York and wanting to play their own game plan. Their game plan will work."
