Boro Player spoke to manager Gary Smith after his side beat Leyton Orient last night and he was delighted to secure three points.
Following on from the draw with Carlisle United on Saturday the manager was pleased to “get that monkey off your back” with a first victory, and told us “I’m very pleased; the guys are very buoyant in there. To get the first win under your belt is something everyone strives for.”
He continued “I think our performance warranted a victory, we showed all the right signs and there was some terrific management and quality on the ball in the first period, and then we had to dig in and show some character and spirit when defending our lead in the second period.”
Smith made three changes to the side that had started the previous two competitive games, notably bringing in the goal scorer on the night Lucas Akins whilst also handing a starting to Robin Shroot and welcoming back Jon Ashton from injury.
“Lucas has a goal and an assist in his first two games for the club which is a great start for him, Jon Ashton has been out with some difficulties for the past three or four weeks so we’re delighted that he was back in the frame, he looked absolutely wonderful for it. His timing was slightly off in the first ten minutes but it didn’t take him long to get back in the groove.”
Shroot, goal scorer against Carlisle, was taken off at half time but the manager said this wasn’t down to his performance. “I thought Robin [Shroot] was very decent in the first half but tactically I felt that we needed a change and it helped.”
Despite there being plenty of positives to take from the game some may say that Boro could have killed the game earlier rather than have the nervous moments towards the end of the fixture. This is a sentiment that Gary agrees with to some extent.
“As we move forward there are plenty of things we need to look at and consider. At the moment to get those three points on the board and to be able to look back and identify what we could improve on is always a better place to be.”
Next up for Stevenage is a tough trip to Oldham Athletic on Saturday and the manager seems to have already started his homework on the Latics.
“It’ll be very tough, I believe they’ve drawn tonight. Paul [Dickov] sets up very good footballing sides, they don’t lack any determination and spirit, they play very much in the sort of vein that Paul did himself, and Gerry Taggart his Assistant. We’re expecting a real tough one again and if we can continue an unbeaten run we’ll be very pleased.”
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