Evans: Striker tops my Christmas wishlist

Two successive games without scoring have highlighted the need for Evans to bring in fresh faces in attack, although one defeat in 14 games means he is far from panicking just yet.

But having missed out on top targets up front in the summer, he’s now keen to recruit in January to bolster his options for the crucial second half of the season.

He said: “Our run of one defeat in 14 games is very commendable but there have been too many draws in there and we need to be putting more teams away when we’re so far on top in games as we were against Yeovil on Saturday.

“We worked incredibly hard but weren’t sharp enough in the final third.

“We’re not giving away too many silly goals so it’s not so much a defensive problem, more that we’re not doing enough up front in some games, missing good chances and going away frustrated.”

Evans highlighted that players he courted in the summer have now gone on to do very well in League Two this season.

He said: “There are a couple of strikers in our league that we tried to bring in before the season that are now doing very well.

“We simply couldn’t afford the packages that those lads were after. Despite people thinking that we have plenty of money to spend, they need to know the reality of what goes on in this league, who is spending the money and the sort of figures that are asked for.

“But as always we’ll try and go about our business as diligently and quietly as we can and as we’ve done with all of our signings, many of whom people didn’t know about until they were announced.”

Despite a congested festive period ahead, which begins with the visit of Morecambe on Saturday, Evans says he is unlikely to change his mind on what is required irrespective of how results may go, and is also well aware that there may have to be departures to balance his squad.

He said: “We’re aware of what we need - I think you’d be a foolish manager to have seen so many games this season and not know what is required. We know who the players are, where they are and while I’ll sit down with the Radfords and check some numbers, they were perfectly happy a few days ago with what was going to be needed.

“But the next four games, win, lose or draw, will make no difference to who we want to bring in.

“We’re in great shape as a squad with a great dressing room and no bad apples. We’ll need a bit of luck but we know what we want.

“You have to balance it, and there will be a few who are frustrated at not playing and who may move on, but all players want to play and that’s no bad thing.”