Tom Pett was delighted to be on any football field after a tough year – but the fact it was back in a Stevenage shirt was even more pleasing.

He played longer than expected too, heading off after 110 minutes of Boro’s eventual penalty shoot-out success over Concord Rangers in the FA Cup.

And he said the only thing missing was the supporters.

He said: “It’s a shame the fans weren’t here to share it with me but it is what it is at the moment.

“I’m glad to be back on the pitch, it’s been a long time and a frustrating time for myself over the last year.

“I didn’t have too much time to think about it. I’m feeling it now in my legs but I’ll recover over the weekend and go again next week.

“We’d been talking all week to see how I was feeling and on Thursday and Friday I felt alright so I said I was good to go.

“It was then a case of whether I’d come off the bench and affect it or would I start.

“We thought starting would be better to ease my way in, rather than coming off the bench with 20 or 30 minutes to go.

“I’m hurting now but it will be good in the coming weeks to have got these minutes in the legs.”

And after starring in a difficult and lacklustre afternoon for Boro, he said it is hugely important they take the positives from the game, and especially the victory, and takes it into their League Two campaign.

“It’s going to be tough,” he said. “We haven’t got the biggest squad but we all need to club together and get ready for the next game.

“We can’t look too far ahead but we’ll be in this week working hard and we’ll make sure we have a plan for next week.

“We need to be winning games in the league. This will give us confidence and we know have to go away to Morecambe and get three points.”

And he wasn’t surprised by the test that the part-time Concord players gave them

“I’ve been there myself, a lot of players have,” he said.

“We were [never] going to win four or five. They are not a bad side. They have some players who have played this level and they were never going to roll over and let us tickle their bellies.

“They had nothing to lose and you could tell by the way they played.

“Yes, we should have been better and we know that, but we’re in the next round of the FA Cup so that is good for us.”