Boro fell to a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Blue Square South side Bishop’s Stortford at Woodside Park.
Gary Smith used two trialists, Soloman Taiwo and Luke Daley, whilst youngster Jess Parsons also came into the side after enjoying a successful time on the club’s trip to Dublin.
Someone else who enjoyed a fruitful spell in Ireland was Robin Shroot, and he got one of Stevenage’s goals with Filipe Morais netting the other. After the game assistant manager Mark Newson told us “Stortford looked like a strong a skilful side, they played well.
“Losing Lee [Hills] so early on affected our defence, we had David [Gray] at right back until half time, but aside from that it comprised of some young players and perhaps lacked that experience.”
Former QPR youngster and Jamaica U20 international Ricky Sappleton starred up front for the Bishops, scoring two of their four, and speaking about the striker Newson said “He’s a big lad and he caused us some problems in defence.
“This match has helped us to have a look at certain areas of our game and get an eye on a few more trialists and youth team players. The result isn’t all that matters here; there have been many positives for us to take.”
Stevenage (4-2-3-1): Arnold (Tanner 75); Gray (Smith 45), Furlonge, Parsons (Allen 75), Hills (Dhillon 10); Ball, Taiwo; Morais (Deruda 45), Shroot, Daley (N’Guessen 75); Thalassitis