Stevenage boss pleased with composed display from his side

Teddy Sheringham says Stevenage deserved their victory at Bristol Rovers on Tuesday evening.

Chris Whelpdale struck the winner midway through the second half after Matty Taylor had earlier cancelled out Steven Schumacher’s opening goal.

After the game Sheringham said he was pleased with how his side performed, including a good all-round performance from Fleetwood loanee Jamille Matt on his first start for the club.

“I felt we started the game very well and got on the front foot. We deserved to be in front and maybe could have been more in front after 20 minutes,” Sheringham said.

“Then they took over and put us under pressure for 25 minutes at the end of the first half.

“We had to ride our luck a little bit in that period, but we gathered our composure and got another cracking goal from Whelps. We were not really hanging on but the pressure was building again, as you’d expect.

“When they’re getting a lot of free-kicks and balls coming into the box you take a deep breath sometimes and think ‘please not’. It is a kind of relief but a feeling that we deserved the victory. Everyone will see it differently in certain instances, but I felt we deserved the three points.”

Speaking about the decision to start Matt up front alongside Tom Pett with regular starter Armand Gnanduillet on the bench, Sheringham said: “I think Gnanduillet has come in and given us a presence up there, but he’s played a lot of games since he’s come in which he hasn’t been used to.

“So we changed it and put Jamille up there and I thought he was excellent with a helping hand from Petty, who I thought was fantastic as well.

“When your front two get hold of the ball you’ve got a chance of doing well in football matches, which is what we did.”