Steve Evans speaks to the media after a hard-fought victory against Cambridge United in Sky Bet League One…
The Boro boss had a lot of praise for his side after a physical battle with Cambridge, but also commended the opponents. “We had to work hard all game to be fair. We knew that Cambridge have got an identity in how they play and how they counter, they’re very direct and they hurt you with their pace, so we made changes to freshen the team up.”
Despite this, Evans felt his side thoroughly deserved the three points. “If it had been anything other than an away victory tonight, it would’ve been a travesty because we missed three or four good opportunities.” After The U’s grabbed themselves an equaliser, “they don’t make another chance, so that’s credit to us because this is a good Cambridge team, they’ll win lots of games”.
Super-sub, Jamie Reid was introduced on the hour mark and picked up the winner to give his side all three points. The gaffer had plenty of praise. “He is Big Goal Reidy; the boys were just singing that to him in the dressing room! He’s an infectious character, they’re all infectious! We can’t ask those players to give us anymore.”
“We can’t even fill the bench tonight; it’s just going against us but by the end of the window we’ll be filling the bench and that’s a combination of new players and boys being near to be playing again.”
Evans was extremely complimentary of the attitude of his players in getting over the finish line. “We had to dig in deep in the second half, we had to continue to press them in the right areas. They’re incredibly fit. These boys will have tomorrow off, they’ll rest, then they’ll bounce in on Thursday. We’ll train at a high tempo on Thursday and Friday, it’s what we did last year and it’s what I’ve done in all my promotions.”
An astonishing 1259 Stevenage supporters turned up to the Abbey Stadium to witness their side’s victory. Evans was thankful for their support. “I think it’s the biggest away support outside of cup ties and the glory days that we’ve seen, and they got their reward! They knew it was a good performance tonight, there was a standing ovation at half-time and again at full-time.
The result means Stevenage sit third in the table after three league games and despite his celebrations after full-time, the boss wasn’t getting too carried away. “Let’s all look after ten and twelve games where I’ve always believed it’ll sort itself out. I can’t ask for any more from the group, we’ve always said we’ll sign characters as well as players and I think we demonstrated that tonight.”
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