The initial thought was that Stevenage needed to appoint a new manager quickly but Robbie O'Keefe is giving the chairman some valuable thinking time as he led Boro to a third game without defeat under his temporary tenure.

The 2-2 draw at Rochdale was the first away from the Lamex following the FA Cup replay success over MK Dons and the 1-0 League Two win against Colchester United on Saturday.

But yet again he reiterated that he will keep doing what is needed until a new man is put in post.

"I really don’t know," he said with a smile after being asked if he would be in charge for Saturday's tip to Tranmere Rovers. "The club will do what is right as they are waiting to appoint and I am happy to keep doing what I’m doing.

"I’m not going to lie, I love it and it has been brilliant.

"Everyone is on it and we’ll keep working our socks off until the club make a decision and when they do, we’ll fully support the new guy."

But he insisted that the plaudits should not be heaped on him.

He said: "It’s the players who are responsible. We’re not over-loading them with information, we’re giving them three things offensively and three things defensively.

"That’s it and the thing for me is bravery.

"If you look at the chances we’ve made and the goals that we’ve scored, there’s some real brave passages of play from the players.

"We want them to play and make the right decisions.

"It was a good performance and we were well worth the point."

The caretaker boss was also not afraid to admit he had made a tactical mistake beforehand, something that once put right allowed Boro to come back into the contest.

"I got it wrong with the shape in the first half, that was really apparent to me in the first 20 minutes," he said.


"We went to a four instead of a three [in the second half] and that solved the problems we had in wide areas and allowing crosses to come in.

"It also allowed us to get a higher press up the pitch, which is what we wanted to do.

"Although we weren’t great in the first half, we battled hard to stay in the game and showed real resilience and character.

"But with the changes we made in the second half, I thought we were much more comfortable."

There was also praise for List, who took his tally to 12 for the season with a goal in each half, as well as empathy for the strikers who have to bide their time behind their in-form colleague.

O'Keefe said: "It’s tough when you look at the bench because you’ve got the likes of Luke Norris there who can score goals.

"But what can you do when a centre-forward is scoring so many goals.

"I’m delighted for Elliott, he works incredibly hard in short bursts and the team can play to his strengths.

"The shape in the second half certainly played to his strengths and with the chances we had in the end, I thought we were going to nick it."