Peter Hartley’s header earned Stevenage a point in a 1-1 draw with Port Vale, however he felt his side could have earned all three in their battle to avoid the League One drop.

The 25-year-old former Hartlepool defender popped up in the 61st minute to net after coming on as a half-time substitute for Bira Dembele, who had picked up one yellow card and came close to receiving another at the end of the first period.

Hartley said: “I’m disappointed we didn’t win the game because I felt at the time I scored the goal it gave us a lift as a team and I thought we could have gone on and got ourselves a second and third, but it wasn’t to be.

“Obviously I was on the bench for the first half and felt like the game needed a bit of a spark, it was just dead, it felt like both teams had nothing to play for and obviously that’s wrong because we’re in a battle.

“When I came on I just tried to add a bit of enthusiasm to the game and I’m happy to get the goal, but not very happy we didn’t get the three points.”

With seven games left of the season for Stevenage to climb out of the relegation zone, he added: “There’s 21 points to play for, and like the gaffer was saying, we’ve got results in seven of the last nine games so if we keep picking points up, and teams keep dropping points round us, it’s in our hands really.”