Stevenage boss says club’s players are renowned for being courageous, and that’s one of the values he needs to instil in them

Graham Westley says he needs to ‘re-instil’ courage and bravery into his side ahead of next season.

Stevenage slipped to a 3-0 defeat at Swindon Town on Saturday, the club’s second successive loss, and speaking after the Robins reversal, which saw Boro reduced to 10 men in the first half when Dani Lopez was sent off, Westley said his side let slip ‘avoidable’ goals.

“I always think there’s going to be those moments, especially when you’re forced to chase the game, where they can open you up, use the extra man to their advantage, create the overload and exploit it,” Westley said.

“If you bring the game back down to the chances that went in our net they’re all avoidable situations.

“Two certainly [where] you’ve got bits and pieces bobbling around in our penalty area; any Stevenage fan would know that our sides over the years like to get first to the firsts and first to the seconds and you don’t see too many Stevenage sides letting in soft goals like that in penalty box situations.

“We are renowned for our courage, renowned for our bravery, renowned for putting our bodies on the line.

“I think that’s one of the many changes that we need to make and one of the values that we need to re-instil in the squad.”

While Boro were disappointed with Lopez’s dismissal, Saturday did give Westley the opportunity to give a run out to Chris Day in goal while there was also a start for Miguel Comminges and a first appearance of the season for Matt Ball, from the bench.

Westley said he had not seen enough of the Lopez incident to comment, but added: “The people who have seen the situation live and the people who have seen footage have said to me Dani was hit and then tapped the fellow in or around the face.

“I’m not sure the level of aggression that was in it; the kid’s in there crying his eyes out. That probably says everything about his nature.

“We certainly feel, the player certainly feels, the decision was harsh certainly if he was hit first. It does seem an unusual situation to say the least.

“I think Daisy has been an exceptional professional and he deserves some football. I thought he was brilliant, a strong performance for him.

“Migs, I’ve not seen at all. David [Gray] was concussed last weekend and was doubtful early in the week.

“I made my mind up that I was going to give Migs a game, get some minutes into him and have a look at him.

“It was a good afternoon in terms of seeing lads. Matt Ball got some action which was nice. This time of year you always get the opportunities to try one or two things out, see how one or two things look. That’s part of the process we’re going through.”