Smith delighted with best home display of the season

Stevenage manager hails ‘terrific performance’ as Boro beat Sheffield United 4-0

Stevenage’s win over Sheffield United on Saturday was the highlight of the season on home soil, says Gary Smith.

A Dani Lopez hat-trick and a strike by Lucas Akins saw Boro stun second-place Sheffield United 4-0 at the Lamex Stadium, and speaking after the match Boro manager Smith said he had seen his side put in a ‘great performance’.

“It’s a wonderful result and of course Dani Lopez’s performance will make the headlines and rightly so,” Smith said.

“[It] was the highlight of the season at home. A terrific result, a great performance and of course four goals and a clean sheet.

“In the last five games we’ve scored one goal, that’s nowhere near good enough when not only are you in a difficult spot and it looks like you’re going the wrong way down the table but you’ve also lost a lot of momentum and positioning in the league.

“We’re all bitterly disappointed that we’ve lost out in the opportunity to stay in the top half, that top 10.

“Our form has dipped, we’ve not been scoring goals, we’ve been battling a lot of things here.

“But [against Sheffield United] the creative side of the game has looked a hell of a lot better.

“The foundation of the group, I don’t think has been in question. The players have always fought hard, they’ve worked hard, but we’ve lacked a little bit of edge in that final third and [against United] it looked much, much better.”