Gary Smith spoke to the official website after the New Year’s Day defeat away to Walsall and he said that he felt his side were certainly worth a point.
Speaking at the Banks’s Stadium the manager said, “I thought the game had 0-0 written all over it, it was a really tough surface and on days like this I think you have to come out of the game with something on the board and for a long period of time that was going to be the case.
“Whilst we weren’t quite effective enough going forward, I thought the game was played predominantly in the middle third. I thought the ability to move the ball quickly and play a creative pass was affected by the pitch and I think the game suffered for that. In the first half I think we certainly had the chances – Filipe brought a fantastic save out of the goalkeeper with his first real effort of the game and then his free kick, that hits the underside of the bar, we’ve seen them spin back in or hit somebody and go in but it bounces out and that’s the way things are going at the moment.”
He admitted that he was ‘bitterly disappointed’ to lose the game late on and said “the guys that have performed so admirably in the first half of the season have got some tough games coming up now because when things aren’t going for you everything looks a difficulty. Crewe away, who have themselves been in a good vein of form, are not an easy task. Somehow, some way we’ve got to put it right.”
The game was Boro’s third defeat in a row and Smith admitted that when a run like that comes about it can be hard to get to get out of it. He said “It’s like winning, you’re almost waiting for it. When you’re winning everything you seem to hit is full of confidence and belief. Today Greg Tansey has a corker of a strike from the edge of the box, it takes a ricochet and just misses the far post. The last two weeks, almost identically, we have lost two games like that. But that’s the way things go when you’re a little down in the mouth and at the moment it’s going that way in front of goal for us.
“At the other end of the field we look a little edgy and nervous, as you often do when you’re losing games, but there’s no way around it; you’ve got to keep working. These are the guys that have done so well and will continue to but this run has got to be snapped out of as soon as possible. Today it could have been achieved, but it wasn’t to be and we will regroup, we haven’t got long and we are back into our stride again on Saturday.”
Stevenage travel to Crewe Alexandra on Saturday and will be hoping to get back to winning ways as early as possible. Our last visit to Gresty Road came in League Two when a scrappy last minute goal yielded a single-goal victory. Smith will be hoping that his side can also come away with a positive result to climb back towards the play off places.