Wycombe Wanderers manager Matt Bloomfield believes his squad is ‘class’ as the Chairboys progressed to the next round of the EFL Trophy.

A textbook Sam Vokes header secured his side a 1-0 victory over Stevenage on Tuesday night as they booked a place in the second round of the competition for the first time in seven years.

The win was also the eighth triumph in the last 12 matches for Wanderers, who have only lost five times from their 15 competitive matches this season.

And with no game this weekend due to the international break, he hopes his side ‘can rest well’ before ending the month with four fixtures in 10 days.

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He told the club’s media: “I’m really pleased [with the result].

“We knew it was going to be a difficult game as Stevenage have accumulated a good and competitive squad.

“We knew there were going to be changes to their team from Saturday [when they beat Wigan], as they’ve got good players too.

“But we’ve got a competitive squad as well so it was an opportunity to give several players important minutes.

“All in all, it was a good night.”

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Since the competition reformatting in the 2016/17 season which saw the introduction of Premier League U21 teams, many League One and Two clubs have used the EFL Trophy to give fringe or academy players valuable minutes.

However, Bloomfield opted to choose a near fully strengthen team which boasted over 2,500 league appearances.

The move worked as Wycombe earned their ninth win from 15 games this season.

He continued: “Whilst there was a fresh face in Declan Skura along with a couple of changes from Saturday, we had a lot of class in our team and a lot of quality.

“Last week at Portsmouth we had Richard Keogh, Garath McCleary and Sam Vokes all start, and they all played tonight [October 10], as they have that desire and energy to play for this club.

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“Having Keysy [Keogh], playing alongside Deco [Skura] is valuable for him as he’ll be able to coach him on the pitch, so there were a lot of good things out there.

“The squad is still thin at the moment as we’ve got injuries and others are out on international duty, so we need to protect players and share the minutes around.

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“We’re very pleased with the way the group is as people are starting to show speed, and we want to have to that competition within the squad.

“We talk and focus a lot about performance and that’s how we go about our business and winning breeds winning, belief and confidence.

“We have to be pleased every time we do win and it is nice that we are on this good run, so for me, I’m pleased but I’m hungry and desperate for more as I want us to get better.”