play in goal when Mart Poom got sent off. He started out as a centre-midfielder, before being moved to central defence. Evatt said of the move, "I started off my career in midfield. I played a few games in the Premier League and, as I got bigger, I moved backwards but I enjoyed it. They saw the potential for me to be a better centre-half." Evatt suffered an injury in March 2003. Then, just before George Burley was appointed as manager to replace John Gregory, who had been sacked in March, Evatt had to have a double hernia operation and he did not feature much for Derby afterwards. He made a total of 34 League appearances for The Rams, including some in the Premier League, but was released by George Burley at the end of the 2002–03 season. Chesterfield Evatt signed for Division Two club Chesterfield in July 2003, with Spireites manager Roy McFarland saying that Evatt was his number-one target to take to the club. Initially he played in midfield, where he struggled, before being moved by McFarland into central defence, where his performances improved. He went on to become the club captain and he won the Player of the Season award for the 2003–04 season. However, in the summer he needed a further hernia operation as the operation the previous year while he was with Derby did not fix the problem. On 26 August 2004, Evatt signed a contract extension with the club to the summer of 2007, saying that it took him just five minutes to make the decision to sign, as he felt the club were "going in the right direction". In February 2005, Chesterfield turned down an offer for Evatt from Bristol City. He was also attracting interest from other clubs, including Leicester City. At the end of the 2004–05 season, Evatt won the SIFA Player of the Season Award and was runner-up in the CFSS Player of the Season Award. He made a total of 84 League appearances, scoring nine goals for the Spireites. Queens Park Rangers On 2 June 2005, Evatt signed a three-year contract with Championship club Queens Park Rangers for a fee of £150,000, under a clause in his contract at Chesterfield that allowed him to move if a six-figure bid was made. On 3 December 2005, during an away match against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium, Evatt was assaulted