Mark Sampson reflected on Saturday’s goalless draw at Scunthorpe with mixed emotions, as he felt he witnessed his team put in a positive performance that warranted more than the result gained...
Defensively, Boro held Scunthorpe to very few chances in attack and Sampson was very pleased with how his side went about their business.
“It was a tight game and everybody probably anticipated that. Scunthorpe have got a very good record at home and coming here you have to be well organised and make sure you maintain your compactness at all times and I thought we did that very well. I am not sure that Farms has had a save to make that we wouldn’t expect him to make.
“It shows that defensively we have been outstanding. We were great on first contacts and we had good shape around those to get second balls. In particular, our ability to make sure we were organised when we had the ball defensively was important. The players had to make sure that when we lost it, we weren’t vulnerable to counter attacks.”
Going forward, Stevenage created more opportunities than the home side and piled on the pressure late in the contest.
“We had the best chances of the game. When we got the ball our football was very good, it was sharp, it was slick and we created some good moments on the counter-attack. Particularly in the last 15 minutes.
“We come away with 12 shots on goal, 5 on target, far more than the opponent. We had more corners and more territory, so all the signs are positive but we just would have liked to get those three points by nicking one of those chances at the end.”
Although a tinge of disappointment to not pick up all three points, the result continues Stevenage’s recent revival in form and Sampson says that his team are continuing to move in the right direction.
“Every game now we feel like come into games believing we can win and believing we are going to win. Seven games, one defeat, four wins. That is a good run by anyone’s means - we just have to keep working.
“Every point is important to us. In terms of a run of form now you can feel the team growing, you can feel the team building and that there is a good stability and good level of confidence.
“The fitness levels most importantly have improved considerably in a short space of time. It was only a few weeks ago that we were getting probably fair criticism about how we are finishing games.
“If you look at how we are finishing games now, a late goal against Morecambe, we were dominant towards the end against Port Vale, dominant towards the end today. It just shows that the work the players are putting in away from the match pitch is paying dividends.”
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