Stevenage’s wait for a first win of the new League Two season goes on after a superb strike from Nicky Law condemned them to a 1-0 defeat against Exeter at the Lamex on Saturday afternoon.
Boro were looking for a better display than the one they put in against Salford last weekend - when they lost 2-0 to the League Two new boys - but the performance against the Grecians left a lot to be desired.
It looked like they were set to take a share of the spoils, until Law curled home with the outside of his foot on 88 minutes to send the points back to Devon.
Dino Maamria made three changes to the side that lost to Salford on the opening day of the season last weekend, with Danny Newton, Paul Taylor and Noor Husin replacing Dean Parrett, Jamie Fielding and Kurtis Guthrie.
The trio combined for Stevenage's opening chance as Husin burst down the left, finding Newton whose flick feed Taylor inside the area, but his venomous strike was well saved by Lewis Ward.
Exeter were lucky to be down to 10 men with 11 minutes gone when Randall Williams dived in late on Chris Stokes. The Lamex faithful were baying for a red card, but referee Anthony Coggins only produced a yellow.
Williams forced Paul Farman into his first save of the afternoon on 32 minutes, curling a free-kick on target that the stopper was equal to.
As the first-half came to a close, neither side would have been happy with their performance, as both failed to create any real chances of note.
It didn't get much better after the interval, with Taylor's effort that sailed well over the bar the only chance of note before the hour mark.
Exeter had an appeal for a penalty turned down after Law tangled with Tom Soares in another rare forward flurry, but it was turned down.
Maamria introduced Parrett and Guthrie to try and change the game, but it didn't have the desired impact.
Exeter then pressed forward, bombarding the Boro box with inviting crossing, but none of the Grecians' frontmen could get on the end of them.
But, with just two minutes to play, a ball into the area fell for Law, who curled an effort with the outside of his foot well beyond Farman and into the bottom corner.
It could have been 2-0 moments later, but Farman brilliantly stopped Williams' close range effort, but Stevenage couldn't find a way back into the game.
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