Dino Maamria was left ruing isolated errors as his side conceded a last-minute Andy Williams goal to lose 2-1 at home to Northampton...
After falling behind inside the first half due to unwise decision-making at the back, Alex Revell’s late leveller looked to earn Stevenage at least a point.
Then with his team pushing for a winner in added time, more crucial mistakes reared their head which allowed Williams to break through on goal and score his side’s second.
“It is disappointment more than anything," the Manager said. "The goals we conceded were such basic errors. What disappointed was that we knew Northampton set traps to press, and I do not understand why we do that for the first goal. That is not what we have been working on in the last two weeks.
“We came back and we kept doing well going forward. Then the second goal, you could not believe it. We were trying to chase the second goal, two individual errors and that is what happens. Very disappointing.”
The result appears to be a damaging one as it leaves Stevenage 6 points outside the Play-Offs with 12 games to go and Maamria admits that it leaves his team on the outside, looking-in.
“They have got a strong team, but this was a game for us that we could not afford to lose. We had to win. We did not for many reasons. The biggest one is that we did not defend well enough.
“I thought going forward we looked fantastic, I cannot believe we only scored one goal. We threatened throughout the game, but defensively we were very poor. Every time they went forward they looked like scoring. If you are serious about ambition and that you have got a chance in promotion, you cannot make those mistakes.
“It was a game today that we could not afford to lose, and we lost the game for basic errors."
Although the mood was one of dejection following the result, Maamria knows that the points gap isn’t an impossible one to overturn.
“You know me, I am very driven and relentless to get better. I want everything now, and that is how I have always lived my life. I keep driving forward, and I keep believing that we will achieve something unbelievable this season.
“What I need is people with me who have the same belief and I have got to keep selling that to them. Some rise to it, some do not. No matter how much you drive, every club has two or three years. In the first season, you find out about one or two players, and then the following season you swap one or two and get better ones - it is a work in process.
“I thought the performance was good last week, I thought the performance was overall good today, but defensively it was not good enough today. We cannot give two goals away at home like that and expect to win the game.”
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