Manager gives his thoughts on tonight's goalless draw at Boreham Wood and looks ahead to St Neots Town on Wednesday...
Stevenage continued their pre-season with 0-0 draw at Boreham Wood tonight but despite it finishing goalless, manager Darren Sarll was pleased with aspects of what he saw.
“It was a very competitive game. I thought Boreham Wood were a good side to play against at this time of pre-season. They certainly showed their strengths, their organisation, and their willingness to run and work.
“I was delighted with my players physically and I was pleased to come away pretty much unscathed. I was a little bit disappointed that despite having better possession and longer possession, it was inconsequential possession in the middle and defending third.
"I definitely thought we had more moments in the final third but we need to be braver in the one-on-one and braver in creating things. I was however pleased that there were little bits coming out from the training sessions and I’m sure we’ll get better.
“I’d like to win, I always want to win but we’ve got fitter, we’re pretty much injury free and we’ve got players some minutes like Jake Hyde, who got some time tonight and he’ll get more time tomorrow night.”
That game tomorrow sees Stevenage travel up the A1(M) to St Neots Town and Darren expects to see those featuring to step up and challenge tonight’s team.
“If I’m playing tomorrow night I want to wrestle the shirt off someone in 10 days’ time. There’s plenty of time to do that, so they’ve got to show physically that they’re ready and they’ve got to show technically that they can maybe do more in the final third than what we’ve done tonight. Again it’s a great opportunity to get Ben Kennedy some more minutes, Jake Hyde some more minutes, Dale Gorman, Mark McKee etc.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing what challenges they present me tomorrow from their performances.”
Kick-off at the Premier Plus Stadium on Wednesday is 7.45pm and you can find out ticket news here.