Wycombe Wanderers winger Kevin Betsy insists that Gary Waddock's Chairboys have learned how to cope with the physical nature of League Two.After a slow start to the campaign, Wycombe have now gone unbeaten in four games to climb into the play-off zone.
"We had such a good pre-season that everyone was getting carried away," Betsy told BBC Three Counties Radio.
"Then we didn't play so well against teams that wanted to bully us and disrupt us and we had to adapt."
He added: "It happened early and not midway through the season, and we realised this is a different league now, we've got to match teams in physical battles."
Betsy, who is in his second spell with the club, is in a rich vein of form after finding the net in his last two outings. And the former Southend man admits that he is revelling in the role Waddock has given him.
"It's one of the main reasons I signed back at the club," he said. "I've got total faith in the manager's beliefs.
"They want to play football in the right manner, with a strong work ethic to go with it.
"Sometimes, as a wide player, I've played in teams where you don't come off the flanks and you don't see the ball for 15 or 20 minutes. But he wants me to get on the ball and be creative as much as possible."
The Wycombe boss has admitted that his side are getting closer to matching his expectations, something Betsy puts down to the manager's relationship with the players.
"It's simple the way he does it," said Betsy. "He lets you go out and express yourself and he does that with all the players.
"It's a rare thing in the game these days where managers let players go out and express themselves, but with a team structure.
"He doesn't pigeon hole players and tell them 'we want you to play like this or that'."
Meanwhile Adams Park has been chosen to host England Under-18s' friendly with Poland on 16 November.
The Chairboys have previously held England games from under-16 up to under-21 level.
Source: BBC Sport
Source: BBC Sport