Ian Evatt felt there was "a lot to like" about Wanderers' performance as they brushed aside 10-man Lincoln City.

Aaron Collins opened the scoring before Ethan Erhahon was shown a second yellow card in quick succession for dissent.

Sunderland loanee Jay Matete bagged a brace after the break and Dion Charles also saw a late goal chalked off.

“The first half was a lot more like us, we moved the ball,” Evatt reflected.

“They are really well coached defensively, they have a really good block and they wait for triggers. But we moved them about, we probed.

“We got into some good positions and didn’t quite find that final pass, but there was a reason there were five or six yellow cards for them in the first half.

“They were getting fatigued, they were getting worked and it was a lot more like us. Collos did what Collo does, moments, a great moment for him.

“The sending off clearly helps, but it doesn’t change their organisation. It just makes it a little bit easier to lock the game out and make sure that we can sustain attacks.

“Second half, I thought we did that really well. Obviously, we got two more goals and should have had another - I think Dion’s at the end was clearly onside. A lot of positives but we are not getting carried away.”

It was a much-needed three points for the Whites, who had taken one point from their previous three league games.

When asked about the response, Evatt replied: “We had this conversation, we can’t stay on the cycle of responding.

“If you want to build momentum, we don’t want to have to keep responding, even though we do (tend to respond).

“We can’t keep undoing our good work, we have two difficult away games coming up next week. We have to go there and get points.

“We are chasing our tails, we are chasing the ones ahead of us but teams have dropped points, and that happens at this time of year. We need to build on what we have seen today but lots of positives."

Eoin Toal made his first appearance since the end of October following a spell out injured, while Jordi Osei-Tutu and Carlos Mendes Gomes got more minutes off the bench.

“Great to have Toaly back, a big player for us, and more minutes for Carlos and Jordi, Jay returning from suspension,” the manager continued. “We have not had our strongest squad available and fit for the whole season.

“That is not an excuse but if that will materialise in the second half of the season, when we play like we can and have everybody available, we are a difficult team to play against.

“It is all about options, for me. If we can have more options and freshen the team up, like we have done today, it keeps the opposition guessing and helps us do what we did today which - if we have got our best players available - we are capable of doing consistently.”