Stevenage took the sight of Mansfield's celebrations on Saturday and turned it into a positive performance at Swindon Town - the victory moving them to three points from guaranteed automatic promotion from League Two.

The Stags has won 1-0 at Field Mill on Saturday, keeping their play-off hopes alive, but the same score was enough to beat the Robins at the County Ground on Tuesday night, Jamie Reid scoring in the first half.

And manager Steve Evans hailed his marvellous players.

He said: "We got the team right, the tactics right with how we played and we re-energised the boys after Mansfield. 

"We listened to celebrations, that was hard, but sometimes, as the captain said to me on Sunday, it just sparks you again and that's what it's done. 

"They put a couple of balls into the box in the last 10 minutes, but let's not mince our words, it should be five or six-nil at that point. 

"We asked the lads to give us a big performance and they gave us a big performance. 

"But we've achieved nothing yet. We just go into Saturday and we’ll see what we can do." 

They had to survive a nervy finale to the game as Swindon threw everything they had at grabbing an equaliser in front of a partisan crowd.

Evans said: "Swindon Town is a huge club for our level and have resources that are good, an excellent young coach in Jody Morris and who have gone away to Wimbledon and scored five and beat Bradford here.

"You then have to ask your boys to produce a real big performance. 

"At times you're going to have to defend your box, you're going to have to win headers and you're going to have to get blocks in. 

"Defensively we did that, but I should be bringing kids on after 60 minutes snd letting them experience it because the game should be done.  

"But it wasn't done, nobody gives you anything in this game."

The reason that he felt the game should be done was the amount of missed chances Boro had. 

Time and time again they spurned golden opportunities that normally come back to bite you.

Evans said: "One of our substitutes actually made the comment with about seven or eight minutes to go that we'll pay for the missed chances. 

"And he got the starriest eyes he's ever seen because you don't want to tempt fate. 

"But he was right and I reminded them that when big chances come, that's the opportunity to kill a game, especially coming to a football club like this. 

"If you look at the chances and look at the players they fall to, I'd expect Jordan Roberts to score the free-kick, because it opens up and he does it every day in training, and I mean every day. 

"Then he goes through and tries to blast one rather than pass it in.  

"Then he puts one on a plate for Danny Rose and it is easier to score than miss but he gets it wrong. 

"Before that Jamie Reid goes through and would I bet, as an experienced manager, would I bet on Roberts, Reid and Rose scoring those chances? Every day. 

"They've got all my confidence behind them but they had a day where it just wasn't going in and this was a day that the team collectively got us over the line."