Boro boss looking for ‘diamonds in the mine’

BORO boss Graham Westley said there was always going to be a post-FA Cup factor after seeing his side go down to a single goal defeat at Chesterfield on Saturday.

A Drew Talbot strike and a fine goalkeeping display from Tommy Lee ensured the league leaders took all three points from the game, and although Stevenage did well enough to warrant a point Westley said afterwards that it had been important that his players had remained grounded following their win over Newcastle United.

“I think there was always going to be a factor, the adulation the lads have had during the course of the week,” Westley said.

“Making sure that they were grounded played a big part in what we did [in the week preceding the Chesterfield game] and getting the balance right in taking the confidence from an excellent performance and keeping their feet on the ground was something we’d focused on.

“Certainly we didn’t start the game on fire although we were fairly comfortable I thought, certainly in the first 25 minutes.

“They’ve scored a cracking goal to win it. Talbot’s a quality player, they’ve got [Jack] Lester, a tremendous player who was instrumental in most of their play dropping into the hole and getting things going for them. They’ve got some good quality players and you have to respect that.

“We’ve come away to the league leaders, we performed credibly over the 90 minutes if hesitantly in the first half.

“Once we did take the game to them I thought we created long periods of pressure and could very well have snatched an equaliser but we’re not about drawing any game, we’re always thinking about winning the game and we certainly didn’t do enough to win the game.”

Stevenage were without strikers Yemi Odubade and Ben May who were both suffering from knocks, but Westley hopes both players will have recovered in time to face Morecambe this weekend.

That game is the first of five consecutive home matches for Westley’s men in the space of 14 days with Rotherham, Reading (FA Cup Fourth Round), Gillingham and Accrington Stanley to follow.

“Any side will see its home advantage being a factor,” Westley said.

“The travel factor, the fatigue you can get when you travel is a factor for an away side.

“Winning away takes a different type of mentality. It takes a different type of approach.

“Winning at home, you get all those advantages but you still have to capitalise on them with your work rate over 90 minutes.”

Stevenage this week released Lee Boylan from the club while Peter Vincenti was allowed to leave for Aldershot on a free transfer and Tim Sills joined the same club after Stevenage and the striker agreed to terminate his contract.

Seven players have left the club since Boxing Day with just Byron Harrison coming in and Westley said that if he was to bring any players into the club he would have to do so in an ‘economic way’.

“You can see this week I’ve been busy moving a couple out,” Westley said.

“I’ve already brought in Ben [May, in October] and Byron. We’re not flushed with transfer funds to go and buy players. We need to do things in an economic way.

“We need to continue to build the squad in a fashion that [follows] the way things have been built so far.

“We haven’t got our �80, �100, �150,000 that could be splashed on players that a lot of the bigger clubs at this level have.

“We’ve got to go and find the diamonds in the mine and bring them through.”