Boro boss says his side needs a fine tuning after defeat to Cheltenham

STEVENAGE boss Graham Westley believes his side only needs fine tuning in order to turn performances into League 2 points.

Boro fell to a single goal defeat away at Cheltenham Town on Saturday despite being much the better side in a performance and result which mirrored the 1-0 defeat to Bradford City earlier in the season.

In both games Westley’s men had the better of the possession and chances but failed to convert any and the Boro boss believes his side only needs minor adjustments if it is to start converting performances into points.

“We’ve been looking back at what we’ve been doing and tried to make subtle improvements and that’s why we’ve got to such a dominant level of performance away from home at this stage in the season,” Westley said.

“With some fine tuning in our defensive and attacking play I’m sure we’ll soon be at the right level.

“Not only did they not have a chance in the first half we could easily have been two or three ahead. The ‘keeper made a great save from Joel’s (Joel Byrom) free kick and Robbo (Mark Roberts) had a free header from the corner.

“Going into the second half we had enough chances to win the game and we had the penalty decision go against us and Yemi (Odubade) missed an open goal from five yards towards the end.

“There’s a lot of encouragement the team will take, they’re not going to get their heads down.

“We spent some time learning the level, we worked out we’re good enough to win games at the level, and we know there is detail in our performance that we need to improve if we are to establish a consistency in our winning level of performance.”

Westley was disappointed that Charlie Griffin’s shout for a penalty was turned down after the striker had been tripped in the box just after half time and said Lawrie Wilson could feel hard done by after seeing red for two bookable offences in injury time at the end of the match.

“Possession was dominated by ourselves you have to say we were unfortunate with one or two decisions,” Westley said.

“Charlie, I think, was a stonewall penalty from where I was looking and certainly the player himself ,who is an honest lad, feels he was through on goal with the ‘keeper to beat and had his legs taken away.

“One or two decisions didn’t go our way so we go away with them having taken their one chance in 90 minutes and we have nothing to show. It’s the second time it’s happened to us, we did the same at Bradford. We dominated the game and didn’t convert it to a result.”

Speaking about Wilson’s sending off, Westley said: “You quite often see two players come together shoulder to shoulder and no cards to be given and I think Lawrie will feel really hard done by a second yellow in those circumstances and it wasn’t a decision I’d have given.”