Alex Revell says Stevenage might have to get ugly in order to snap their winless streak and goal drought.

The 1-0 defeat at the Lamex Stadium to Newport County on Tuesday night made it just one win from the opening seven games of the League Two season.

And while they have only conceded six goals in that spell, the goals for column stands at just five, with none scored in the four league games in October.

It is something the Boro boss is only too painfully aware of and may have already signalled in a change in priority.

Revell said: “We have to get out of this. We can’t keep losing 1-0 every week because it doesn’t show the true identity of what we are doing.

“It is the ugly side of it. It’s not about the performance, it is about winning games ultimately and getting points.

“We picked a team full of attacking players because that is what we wanted to do.

“When you have four or five up front you want to get balls into the box and gamble on knock downs and second balls.

“We didn’t do that well enough. Maybe we’re not used to doing it.

“Maybe that is something we have to do, the uglier side of football. Maybe those are the type of goals we need to work on.”

The winning goal came from the penalty spot on eight minutes, converted by Tristan Abrahams, but followed an effort from Danny Newton that rebounded off the bar in the second minute.

And with the late pressure all from the home side, Revell felt they were unfortunate not to grab at least a point.

He said: “The first eight minutes summed up the last few weeks for us.

“We hit the bar, missed the rebound and then conceded a penalty that there was no need to concede.

“And from that point against a team who are at the top of the table it was always going to be difficult.

“I think we created more than enough chances to at least draw the game if not win it.

“We finished the game strong and like we were going to be the ones to score and I felt that for most of the game if I’m honest.

“When you go 1-0 down early it does suck the life out of you a little bit. You then have to get going again and it was another strong second half. I’ve barely looked in the direction of our goal and it is frustrating.”