Stevenage came away from Meadow Lane disappointed not to have taken all three points from their clash against Notts County.

Boro continued from where they had left off midweek following their victory at Ipswich Town with another promising performance, only to be denied the win by the Magpies who were able to hold on.

Apart from a 15-minute spell in the first period just after County had equalised, during which time they also twice hit Boro’s woodwork, the rest of the match was controlled by Darren Sarll’s men who played some top notch football at times.

They zipped the ball around in midfield, especially in the opening 15 minutes, with Tom Conlon and Jobi McAnuff finding plenty of space.

However with victory proving elusive they will now go to Leyton Orient on Tuesday still searching for a first league win while striker Ben Kennedy will be looking for a third goal in three matches.

The Northern Irish teenager fired home the winner against Ipswich Town midweek and opened the scoring here after just nine minutes, side-footing home after being set up by McAnuff.

However, within 10 minutes the home side were level. Sarll was adamant that there was a foul on Matt Godden in the build up, which saw the striker on the receiving end of a robust tackle, but Boro were guilty of not cutting out a long ball over the top.

It was the worst phase of play from them in the game and it proved costly, as Jon Stead was able to lob the onrushing Jamie Jones to bring his side back level.

Stead then struck the foot of the post before setting up Thierry Audel who ran on to the pass and hit it first time against the Stevenage bar.

Having ridden out a tough 10 minutes, Boro then created some more chances of their own just before the break.

County had keeper Adam Collin to thank for expertly keeping out Tom Conlon’s curling shot while Kennedy failed to connect properly to a ball dropping to him in the six-yard area and Collin was able to gather.

Collin saved again on the hour from Fraser Franks, the defender getting low to nod goalwards after a free-kick had been cleared towards him, before both Michael Tonge and Conlon went close with no luck for Boro.

Elliott Hewitt also fired wide for John Sheridan’s side, but Jones was hardly troubled in the second half as a slowly evolving Boro side returned home pleased with the performance but disappointed with just a single point.

Notts County: Collin, Tootle, Dickinson, Duffy, Hollis, O’Connor (Hewitt 79), Forte (Oliver 62), Rodman, Stead, Audel, Aborah (Burke 69). Subs: Loach, Smith, Snijders, Campbell.

Stevenage: Jones, Fox, Henry, Franks, Wilkinson, Conlon, McAnuff, Tonge, Lee, Godden, Kennedy (Hyde 78). Subs: Day, Pett, Liburd, Gorman, Donnellan, Kerr.

Att: 3,987 (192)