Westley: we are showing lots of endeavour

Graham Westley says he was ‘gutted’ for his players that they were denied the chance for a late winner at Morecambe at the weekend.

The Stevenage manager, who today was shortlisted for the League 2 manager of the month for December, said his team ‘worked hard’ for their point at the Globe Arena but had missed out on what he thought should have been a penalty for a foul on Roarie Deacon.

The draw means that Boro are now unbeaten in four matches ahead of Saturday’s visit of a AFC Wimbledon side that went close to knocking Liverpool out of the FA Cup on Monday.

Speaking about the point at Morecambe, Westley said: “It was a hard-earned clean sheet. It was a point won with a lot of endeavour.

“I thought they played with good organisation and very good discipline. The work rate and professionalism shown to get ready after a hard week or 10 days was fantastic.

“I’m gutted for them the referee didn’t see the penalty late on…everyone in the ground saw it. Unfortunately he didn’t, and he’s the one that matters.

“What should have been three points, as I’m sure we would have scored the pen, turns out to be just the one because of that decision which is tough to take but we move on.

“They earned the right to the opportunity. Roarie did brilliantly well to get down the side and the defender’s leg came out.

“We played well for an away side; we developed some good passages of play. We were unfortunate on one or two occasions in the first half – Adam Marriott probably had the best chance when he went through one-on-one – but we’ve won a point, and they’ve worked really hard for a clean sheet. We’ll have a lot more disappointing performances than that and win.”