Stevenage boss speaks of the need for better composure in front of goal following the defeat to Peterborough United

Graham Westley believes his Stevenage side needs to win at least half of its remaining matches if the club is to remain in League 1.

Boro’s home defeat to Peterborough United this afternoon sees Westley’s men nine points from safety, albeit with two and even three games in hand on the teams above them, and Westley believes a little more composure in front of goal can see them improve their results.

“I think we all know we’ve got to win half or more of our games, nine home games and seven away games,” Westley said after Saturday’s home defeat.

“We’ve got to get eight or nine wins in that period of time. We’ve played three of the top six [teams] in the last week or 10 days, and in those three games we’ve put in some creditable performances, we’ve not been far away at all. That’s a measure of the progress the team has been made.

“We’ve got to do more going forward obviously, but we’re not scared of the challenge ahead. We always had to win games, and these were always going to be three difficult ones.

“We’ve got some big games against teams in and around us so we can post points and peg them back as well it’s important that we do that.”

Stevenage had a number of very good chances to get at least a point at home to The Posh, but Luke Freeman put one wide from a tight angle in front of an open goal while Darius Charles saw his effort when one-on-one with Bobby Olejnik superbly saved by the visitors’ keeper.

“I think we’re got plenty of quality in front of goal. I don’t think that in Darius Charles and Francois Zoko you could ever accuse them of lacking in quality, Luke Freeman you couldn’t accuse him of lacking in quality,” Westley said.

“I think sometimes when the team is so desperate and working so hard to dig us out of a hole players maybe show a little bit of desperation when they should show a bit of composure. We’ve got to make sure that mentally we’re in the right state to put some more composure in our performances and deliver the clinicality it’s going to take to get us out of this mess.”