Stevenage boss angered by first-half display, but encouraged by improved second-half performance at Molineux

The Comet: Wolves manager Kenny Jackett. Photo: Kevin Coleman 2013Wolves manager Kenny Jackett. Photo: Kevin Coleman 2013 (Image: © Kevin Coleman 2013)

Graham Westley believes Wolves will have breathed ‘a huge sigh of relief’ after Stevenage ran them close on Saturday afternoon.

Kenny Jackett’s side took the lead after just seven minutes with Kevin Doyle finding the net, but after the first half-hour, when the hosts had the better of the play, Boro came back into the game and had a number of chances to equalise before James Henry put Wolves beyond reach at 2-0 with 10 minutes remaining.

Speaking after the match, Westley said that his side gave Wolves ‘a leg up’ before they then took the game to their opponents, adding that their hosts’ goal ‘led a charmed life’.

“Sides come here and play in awe of the stadium and it was up to us to avoid doing that, it was up to us to come here and play the 11 players in front of us and not play the arena,” Westley told the BBC.

“When you are used to playing in front of two, three thousand each week and you suddenly play in front of 20 there is always a danger that the environment gets the better of you and you forget to do the basics right.

“We were trying to make sure that the players were equipped for that, but of course they’re not used to playing in front of those sides of crowds.

“It’s fine talking about it, but when they actually experience it it’s difficult. For 30 minutes or so the arena got the better of us and then we got the foothold in the game.

“For the first 30 minutes of the second half we put them to the sword and it was only really when they got that second goal that they got off the hook. I think they’ll be breathing a huge sigh of relief in their dressing room.

“In the first half we played a little bit in awe of the crowd, and the situation and the environment which I’m furious about because I think the lads are better than that.

“For seven, 10, 12 minutes it looked like we’d forgotten everything we’d came here with as a gameplan and we gave them a leg up into the game and it’s difficult when you do that at places like [Molineux].

“Second half I thought we settled down and showed some composure, produced our quality and how we didn’t score God only knows.

“Their goal led a very charmed life, and it was disappointing to concede the second because I still think if we’d had stayed in the game at that stage we know that they concede goals in the last 15 minutes of games and I fancied us.

“It was a tough result to take in terms of us not producing our best in the first half, but there are a lot of positives to take I think from the 90 minutes. We out-shot them, I think we produced more clear-cut chances than they did over the 90 minutes and on a different day we could have got something from the game.”