What a difference a week can make in football.

From last Saturday’s poor 1-0 home League Two defeat to mid-table Crawley Town to Tuesday’s terrific 2-1 win at relegation rivals Hartlepool United and now a derby victory over Cambridge United, caretaker manager Darren Sarll’s first three games as boss have been a whirlwind.

Following Tom Conlon’s brace in the north east in midweek, Byron Harrison was the hero at the Lamex Stadium on Saturday, bagging two and delivering a happy Saturday evening for the stand-in boss.

Sarll said: “We need to come away from this win knowing that still isn’t our best, there’s still so much to do in terms of improving us but there were real signs we’ve got that shape and of the old Stevenage coming back.

“That stance of we’ll stand shoulder-to-shoulder and we won’t be beaten. I love that mentality and it’s the mentality I’ve been brought up on here.

“I thought it was a really good performance with those elements. At half-time I thought we could have done better in the first half to be a little bit more authoritative with the ball, to go after Cambridge a little bit more than we did.

“It’s a good Cambridge side so let’s not take anything away from our boys today, we’ve beaten a good side so there’s lots to be pleased with.

“Being able to beat sides above us is a mentality that you have to have and something you have to change very, very slowly and from Crawley last week to Cambridge this week, it’s been a very nice end to the last seven days.”

Harrison was unsurprisingly taking the plaudits after a superb second debut for Boro and Sarll was delighted with his energetic showing after a disappointing first six months of the season at parent club Chesterfield,

He continued: “We all knew there wasn’t going to be the longevity in his performance, especially at the tempo we’re trying to set.

“We knew it was going to be a really fast and furious first 55 minutes for him. Just before he scored I said to him ‘I want 10 more minutes of you, I want everything from you, don’t leave anything behind’ and he goes away and he scores the goal so at that point I thought ‘that’s enough’.

“Overall I was delighted with Byron’s performance but that’s not enough.

“I want more from him but I know that will come when from his development physically. There’s plenty more to come from Byron.”