Stevenage boss Dino Maamria has hailed his side after an excellent second half comeback grabbed a point at league leaders Lincoln City in a dramatic game on Saturday.
A superb performance from every single one of his players during the 2-2 draw at Sincil Bank against Danny Cowley’s table-toppers boosted Boro up to ninth in League Two.
Two late goals from the talented Ilias Chair grabbed an unexpected point against the Imps in front of a sellout crowd in Lincolnshire.
Chair, 21, on loan from QPR after Maamria used his extensive contacts book in the game to ask Superhoops legend Les Ferdinand if he could take the highly-rated Belgian of Moroccan descent on loan until the end of the season.
Chair’s efforts cancelled out a brace from former Loftus Road loanee at the Lamex, Bruno Andrade, as Lincoln raced into a two goal lead.
However that was without reckoning on the character Maamria’s men showed in the Lincoln cauldron.
Speaking to CometSport on the pitch immediately after the match the charismatic Maamria said: “It was a fantastic performance from start to finish.
“We dominated [Lincoln]. They are top of the league and we absolutely actually battered them. I think we had 20 shots. The possession was 60-40 [in Stevenage’s favour].
“We kept going forward relentlessly. We were unlucky to get the draw at the end [because Stevenage should have won the game].
“We showed resilience. We showed determination. That’s what we’re about. Belief, endeavour. We were full of attacking intent.
“I thought Ilias scored two great goals and he hit the post a couple of times. Their keeper was their best player. But to single one player out would be disrespectful to the rest of the team.
“They all put in outstanding performances. To come to a place like Lincoln and attack them – they’re not used to that.”
Maamria’s overexuberent celebrations in the aftermath of Chair’s second goal when he raced to the section where the 206 travelling Boro ffans were housed in a sellout crowd of 9.036 saw him manhandled from the touchline by four burly stewards.
But the well-built Maamria was not concerned saying: “Yes I might have done a ‘Jurgen Klopp’ but sometimes you just have to celebrate with the fans who were brilliant.”
Follow Layth on Twitter @laythy29
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