Stevenage may still be without a goal or a win this season but manager Dino Maamria was happy that the 0-0 draw at Mansfield was “a positive result”.
Boro's only goal so far this year came in the Carabao Cup loss to Southend with the five matches in League Two yielding just two points from two no-score draws and three defeats, all to nil.
It leaves Stevenage second from bottom but still well in touch of the pack ahead and the boss wants to build on the good things he saw at Field Mill.
Speaking to the club website he said: "I thought first half we were very good and we had the best chance of the half.
"[Paul] Taylor should have scored, there is no doubt about it. He was through one-on-one with all the time in the world and he hit the keeper.
"If we had have scored that it would have been a different game.
"We knew that when Mansfield kick into their own fans, it is always going to be difficult. We were trying to win the game, they chucked one of two bodies forward and they were hitting us on the counter attack.
"Apart from that it was a very good draw for us. Take everything from the last three or four games, when you come to Mansfield and get a 0-0 and clean sheet, it is always a positive result."
their plans had been thrown into disarray early with a failed fitness tests and then Luis Fernandez pulling out in the warm-up.
That adds to an ever-growing list of players unavailable with knocks and has forced Maamria to use youngsters.
But he pointed to his experienced hands for helping the club through the crisis.
He said: "The problem that we are facing, any other team that would do a lot worse. Imagine Liverpool with seven of their first-team players not playing and see how well they perform."
"The biggest point for me today was that our experienced players were absolutely magnificent.
"I have got to single out Paul Farman, probably the best performance in the Football League today. Luther Wildin looked like a man mountain as a centre-back, Tom Soares as well, and Joel Byrom's performance today was outstanding.
"Those experienced lads carried the young ones through. It was brilliant to see because that goes a long way."
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