Stevenage's trip to Sutton United represents the first test on their road to promotion from League Two - but if they can get February right, Steve Evans believes they will be in a very good position.

Boro still have 20 games to go but are second in League Two and after the victory over Leyton Orient, many are starting believe that they will land the title, never mind promotion.

Evans is still wary of the chasing pack but admitted a good period through February and into March could cement their credentials.

He said: "We come out of Sutton and we have Bradford and we go to Newport and Stockport.

"They are all tough but I know myself that if we come out in Rochdale on March 4 and we're in good shape, we'll be in very good shape.

"Not just good shape, we'll be in very good shape.

"There's always pivotal spell spells of the season and we just have to be focussed.

"We started well, had a little dip where we weren't quite at it but we've come through that.

"We're 12 unbeaten but every one of the next seven or eight games are tough for us, real tough, especially because so many are on the road.

"But we have a strong group. We know the points we have to get to guarantee ourselves promotion and that means we've still got to win 50 per cent of our games, at the minimum.

"But if we do, we'll be in League One."

Their dalliance with the FA Cup, as well as the bad weather, means others have now played more than them and the picture behind around them has changed.

Orient remain two points clear but Carlisle are now third, just four points adrift.

Both have played two games more than them while others are massing behind and Evans says it just shows that the title and promotion race was never going to be battled out for between three clubs. 

 

He said: "We've seen Carlisle come up and they've been absolutely outstanding. They've got a good manager, an experienced manager who spent really wisely in the window and they've got a very competitive squad.

"I actually watched the game on i-player the game against Barrow. It was 5-1 and could have been 12, that's the reality of it and that doesn't knock anything about that's happening at Barrow.

"Then you have Northampton [who won away last Saturday at Barrow] and below that, you see a host of teams that you'd expect to be there.

"So this was never, ever going to be about just Leyton Orient, Stevenage and Northampton. There's going to be four or five other clubs that are going to fight.  

"If you're Mansfield, you want play-offs, if you're Stockport, you want play-offs, Swindon are talking play-offs, Walsall are talking play-offs, Bradford are talking play-offs, it doesn't stop does it?"

"It is great for the league but we have to look after ourselves. If we get promotion, no one will have earned it for us, we will have earned it ourselves and that's the only focus we'll have as a group.

"We'll have bumps in the road but the reality is we're 12 unbeaten in the league and the reality is we are in a really good place.

"Everyone wants to be top of the league and we'd love to be top of the league but you have to be good enough to be top because games in hand count for nothing."