Graham Westley stressed the importance of a win on Saturday during his weekly press conference at Bragbury End today (Thursday).

Ahead of Colchester’s visit to the Lamex, the Boro manager spoke to the media for 13 minutes and emphasised the importance of winning three points no less than five times.

“We have to win on Saturday; I don’t think anyone is under any illusions that, going into Shrewsbury and Colchester, we had to win one of those games,” said Westley.

“Having lost the first one of the two there is no choice, we have to win, which is think is good. When there is a choice there a decision to make, there isn’t a decision to make, we have to win.”

Westley added that it’s not something Stevenage is unfamiliar with, pointing to the League Two play-off final which was a must-win game. If Boro are going to get the same result, the manager said his players must put Colchester under pressure.

“We have to make sure pressure is on them,” he explained.

“We have to play with an intensity, tempo and pressure they can’t withstand; that’s the order of the day. They don’t have to win, we do.

“The only thing that is important on Saturday is that we get three points.”

He added: “We’re in a seven team league [at the bottom of the table] and there’s five games to play – we have to make sure we get in the top three [at the end of the season], that’s in.

“We’ll be a point behind the leaders with three points on Saturday, we have to do that and get in a position where we have the initiative going into the final four games.”