Bolton Wanderers will need to up their performance levels to get anything out of their trip to Oxford United this weekend as Ian Evatt admits League One is an 'unforgiving' division this season.
Wanderers travel to the Kassam Stadium aiming to go seven matches unbeaten in the division with a tough clash against the U's.
Bolton can do the double over Karl Robinson's side, having been them 2-1 at the University of Bolton Stadium back in August.
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The U's are in the play-off places at present and Wanderers will be seeking to close the gap between them and the top six, which currently stands at 11 points.
Robinson's side will be seeking to bounce back from their midweek loss at the hands of Accrington Stanley and Evatt knows Wanderers will have to play better than they did against Charlton Athletic to get something from the encounter, despite beating the Addicks while not at their best.
He said: "You look around the league and other than Rotherham that are on an amazing run of form and are kicking clear at the top of the division, it’s difficult to win five out of six and be unbeaten.
"It’s really tough, it’s a tough league, it’s unforgiving. Every games poses a different challenge and we’ve got another one on Saturday but the lads are in good form, they’re in good spirits and I’m pleased that we’ve won a game with a set play when we’ve not played too well.
"We need to play a lot better than that at Oxford on Saturday for us to have a chance of getting something out of the game, but it is satisfying to have played poorly and won.
"That is something that we haven’t done very well at all and people talk about it a lot that it’s the sign of a good team when you’re able to do that. Today we’ve done it but we must regroup now and have a look at what we’ve got available and fit and fresh and ready to go for Saturday.”
Wanderers are now six games unbeaten in the division, five of which have been wins as Wanderers have collected 16 points from the last 18 on offer.
At times, Wanderers have struggled to become a team that's been hard to beat, but Evatt believes this has now changed in a short space of time.
He added: "At times we’ve shrunk in games and we’ve wilted away and that’s not us. We want to be a team that’s hard to beat and I think we’ve become a team that’s hard to beat.
"Tonight we haven’t played well at all, but it was a hard fought game and we’ve managed to win with a set play so some credit to the opposition. I thought they were very good as well. But we’ve come a long way in a very short space of time and onto Oxford on Saturday.”
