Stevenage manager Steve Evans should be considered as League One’s manager of the year - according to the man he will go toe-to-toe with on Good Friday.

Ian Evatt brings his Bolton Wanderers side to the Lamex Stadium hoping to get their automatic promotion chase back on track.

But he will find a Stevenage side, led by former Bolton trainee, Evans, out to keep their play-off hopes live, having been in the top six for almost the whole campaign.

And the effectiveness of the Herts side has drawn respectful words from the Wanderers boss, who admits Boro are potentially the most awkward opposition his team could have come up against after the international break.

“Stevenage are a tough, tough side but that’s our way, isn’t it? We don’t do things the easy way,” he told Comet's sister paper, The Bolton News.

“I think Steve deserves to be nominated for the manager of the year, I really do, I am really do respect the team he has built there and the job he does.

“There are no frills, they know what they are, and they make no apologies because they are good at what they do.

“It will be a real challenge but we need belief in ourselves and if we can match what they throw at us and add the quality we have shown at times this season, we are capable of winning any game.”

With Derby, Peterborough United and Barnsley all at home, Wanderers face potentially the toughest Good Friday game of all four sides vying for second spot.

But asked whether Stevenage may draw some encouragement from facing Wanderers after a defeat at Derby, Evatt believes it could prove quite the opposite.

“They wouldn’t if they watched the game back,” he said. “Any coach or manager would watch that game and see we were the most dominant team and know we are a real threat if we performed like that.

“For me, there is no damage. I’d be looking at that game and thinking ‘this is a good team.’

“Steve was also in the Sky box when we destroyed Oxford 5-0. He knows what we are capable of, just as we know what they can do as well, they are a good team. They are really effective and difficult to play against.

"There are no secrets, we just have to make sure we perform well enough to get us a result on the day.”