Despite still being in his managerial infancy, Teddy Sheringham was left pleased his second-half substitutions kick-started his Stevenage side to a 1-1 League Two draw at Dagenham and Redbridge.

The hosts were much the more menacing in the opening half and fully deserved their half-time advantage, coming courtesy of Ashley Hemmings’ long-range effort.

Deciphering Boro’s issues at the break, the former Manchester United and England striker threw Tom Conlon on in place of youngster Dale Gorman in central midfield at the start of the second half and it gave his side a little more cutting edge.

Another substitute, Tom Hitchcock, entered the fray on 68 minutes and just six minutes later latched onto Brett Williams’ perfect knockdown to sidefoot the equaliser. A managerial masterstroke from Sheringham.

Speaking afterwards, Sheringham said: “I was pleased that the game has changed around when I have made substitutions like that [Conlon for Gorman].

“It wasn’t a forced one, it was just a situation where we needed to get further up the pitch and perhaps more players that were accustomed to playing in their [Dagenham’s] half rather than our half and, even though Dale Gorman did well in the first half, Tom came in and did well as well.”

Having plied his trade at the very top of the domestic and international game, Sheringham is no stranger to scoring goals and was left complimentary of the MK Dons loanee’s deft finish.

He continued: “It was a very clever finish. Great ball in from Fraser Franks, very good knockdown from Brett Williams and it’s a gambler’s instinct to get onto the knockdown and a very nice finish to get us back into the game.”

I’ve been very loyal to our three strikers in regards to rotating them and Tom keeps knocking on my door saying ‘any chance?’ and ‘what’s happening gaffer? When am I going to get a chance?’

“He’s only had 10 to 15 minutes in each game so far but when he’s come on, he’s done really well. His attitude has been first class even though he has come from another club, he expects to be playing and he hasn’t been. His attitude has been brilliant and I was delighted for him that he’s scored the equaliser.”

When asked whether Sheringham would like to extend the striker’s loan at the Lamex Stadium beyond next Saturday’s home game with Plymouth when his current one-month deal is due to expire, he said: “I haven’t actually spoken to Tom about that but we’ll have to sit down with him and MK Dons and see if we can come up with something. We’ll talk about it in the next week.”