'˜Teams Will fear us again,' says Chesterfield skipper after Fylde win lifts Proact spirits
The Town captain admits that the FA Cup victory, which ended a 13-game stretch without a win, has put an extra spring in the step at the Proact.
“A win changes everything, it doesn’t matter how it comes, it definitely changes the whole spirit and mentality of the place,” he said.
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Hide Ad“We felt like we deserved it, we felt we were unlucky in the last two or three games when we felt we deserved more than we got.
“You start thinking is it ever going to come, but it did come and it gave us a massive lift.
“There’s a lot more buzz.”
Beating a promotion hopeful on their own turf reinforces Evans’ belief that Town should be a team others don’t relish taking on.
“Personally, I’ve played in this league now for a few years.
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Hide Ad“I know this squad reasonably well now. There isn’t anyone we should fear.
“Don’t get me wrong, there are big clubs, big teams in this league, but we’re one of them.
“At the start, people did fear us.
“I think it’s going to come back, if we keep defending the way we do, scoring goals, people will get that fear again - particularly when they come to our place, it’s going to be tough.”
Chesterfield’s miserable run of form, which followed a three-game winning streak that began the season, isn’t what Evans has been used to of late.
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Hide AdHe’s finished in the play-off spots in three of the last four seasons.
But he can draw parallels between the current campaign and his first season in senior football
“In my first year as a professional with Swindon, we got relegated from League One,” he said.
“I wasn’t really playing, I was just a young lad in and out of the squad.
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Hide Ad“But it was a similar sort of situation where we weren’t really playing badly, and I still think that now, we haven’t really been playing badly, we’ve just been unlucky.
“(Before Fylde) things weren’t really going our way at both ends.
“We couldn’t seem to find the net no matter how hard we tried and people would score the odd goal against us.”
According to Evans and his boss, the only thing for it was hard work and a positive mental attitude.
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Hide Ad“You’ve just got to keep positive on the training field. The gaffer is a big believer in that, making it a fun environment to work, and the results will come.
“We did a lot of work on the training pitch, double sessions, working hard on our team play so everyone knew their jobs.
“I think it’s paid off.
“It’s now about continuing in that form.”