We need to start games better says Westley
Boro boss wants to see his players start matches in a more positive fashion
YOU wouldn’t instantly think the philosophical musings of a legendary NFL coach from the 1960s would have much relevance with Stevenage FC.
But Graham Westley has bought into a famous quote from a former Green Bay Packers’ coach with regards to Boro’s performances this season.
Vince Lombardi, who died in 1970, was in charge of Green Bay from 1959 until 1967 and he once offered a rather ingenious explanation to the press after his team lost a match by stating: ‘we didn’t lose the match, we just ran out of time.’
And Westley feels this statement applies very much to his team as he admits Boro have often wasted the opportunity early on in games to seize the initiative after failing to start in a positive manor, insisting that by the time they have got to grips with matches it’s often been too late.
“We get the measure of opponents during games but we’ve often just not started in the right fashion,” Westley told The Comet.
“That could be down to the stadium or the environment and getting used to the opposition but I think in the second half of the season you’ll see us start games much more quickly because we know we generally finish games well.
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“We need to start getting after games from the off and we haven’t done that often enough this season. We’ve wasted time early on in games and we haven’t punished teams.”
Despite Boro being unlucky not to earn at least a point from last weekend’s visit to league-leaders Chesterfield after an excellent second half display, Westley says the players are very much looking forward to getting back to playing in front of their own supporters again after superb wins in their last two matches at the Lamex Stadium against Barnet and Newcastle United.
He added: “The boys are really up for it and they can’t wait to get back to playing on their own pitch and there’s no better medicine after a defeat than going out in front of your own fans and putting on a good display.”
